Just What I Needed 2
by uchiha.s
Summary: Sasuke and Sakura have finally gotten together, but between incensed fanboys and their own jealousy, their relationship is teetering on the edge. Chapters six, seven, and eight up! COMPLETE!
1. Competition?

JUST WHAT I NEEDED

PART TWO: Against All Odds

Summary: Sasuke and Sakura have finally gotten together, but can their relationship survive despite the odds?

Chapter One

"Special delivery!"

Sasuke glanced up from the paperwork he was doing at the door in the front of the cramped store. Basses and guitars lined the walls, and in the center of the tiny store was a set of bookshelves full of scores from musicals and such. Over the top of the shelves he could see a flash of pink hair, and a hint of a smile played on his lips as his onyx eyes softened. His girlfriend of three weeks, Sakura Haruno, stumbled over the cord of an amplifier as she made her way over to him, carrying a brown paper bag that smelled like ramen from the ramen bar down the street. He checked his watch.

"You're early." He said, pushing the paper to the side on the counter to make room for Sakura and the lunch. His stomach rumbled at the smell of food. Sakura was looking annoyingly cute in jeans and a soft white sweater, and her cheeks were flushed from the chilly fall air. She smiled, her green eyes sparkling.

"I was bored and figured you could use some company."

"You're just a distraction." He snapped, snatching a styrofoam box with take-out ramen with his favorite seasoning, shrimp, from her cute little hands. Sakura fake-pouted, sticking her lower lip out and making her eyes look sad. Sasuke scoffed.

"So, what are we doing tonight?" Sakura asked in the middle of chewing. Sasuke shrugged, and got up to put up the lunch break sign on the front door. "I was thinking we could go see that new movie. You know, the one with that guy, and that girl with the hair."

Sasuke snorted. "I know a couple of movies like that, moron."

Sakura glared. "No! You know, that one where-"

"Whatever it is you want to do, I'll do it." Sasuke said irritably, sitting back down and finishing his ramen.

"But I always choose what we do!" She fake-whined. Sasuke threw out his own empty ramen container.

"Come back here, help me unpack these new books." He started heading to the back storage room, gesturing for Sakura to follow him. They ducked back into the storage room, which was full of cardboard boxes with old paperwork and restocking supplies. Sasuke closed the door behind her, and then, fast as lightning, pinned Sakura against the wall. Sakura laughed.

"Oh, right, 'unpacking new books.' I see." Her giggling faded as their lips met in a soft, light kiss. Sakura reached up and snaked her arms around Sasuke's neck, closing her eyes as their lips met again. She breathed in his scent, which was always fresh laundry and toothpaste, or else, when he had been playing soccer, freshly cut grass. His fingertips reached under the hem of her sweater just barely, making Sakura shiver.

"Sasuke." She breathed onto his neck as he moved from her lips to her jaw. She pulled herself tighter against his hips-

"Whoa. Bad timing."

They froze and Sasuke looked up at the intruder, glaring. Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck, looking down. Sakura and Sasuke reluctantly pulled away, straightening their shirts and looking expectantly at Shikamaru. "..Can I join?" Shikamaru grinned. Sakura slapped him. "Okay! Chill out, I was just kidding."

"This had better be good." Sasuke snapped, giving Shikamaru a cold, withering look.

"Hmph. Troublesome brat..." Shikamaru muttered. He handed Sasuke a post-it note. Sasuke scanned it.

"A new coworker?"

"Yeah, weird huh? It's not like we even need one. But she's just going to be here to clean or something." Shikamaru said shrugging. Sasuke nodded. "Apparently she's starting tomorrow. Anyway, I'm here to take over your shift... looks like you needed it." He smirked, heading back to the front of the store. Sakura blushed, looking up at Sasuke through her eyelashes. Sasuke touched his forehead to hers, looking into her eyes and hypnotizing her. She felt like she could get lost forever in his black eyes. They reminded her of outer space sometimes, especially when he was smiling. There was a twinkle in them like a star. He hardly ever smiled, though. Only when she was around.

They left an annoyed Shikamaru and decided to head back to Sasuke's apartment so that he could get cleaned up. Then they'd go to the movies with Hinata and Shikamaru like usual. Hinata and Shikamaru were not dating anymore; briefly after the dance Shikamaru had been under the influence of Tenten's love potion and had been in love with Hinata, but that didn't last very long. Quickly Shikamaru was reminded of his love for Ino, who was no longer chasing Kiba.

Sakura could hear the usual squeak of the knob as Sasuke turned on the shower. She sat on his bed, watching the cars go by on the streets below. His room was slowly beginning to look more lived in. In fact, his entire apartment was looking more lived in. On his nightstand there was a picture, framed, of him and Sakura in front of some statue at some park. Sakura was giving Sasuke bunny ears and Sasuke was glaring threateningly at the camera. His refrigerator actually had food in it now. And of course, there was always something of Sakura's that she'd left behind, like a notebook or a hair ribbon.

Sasuke came in with a towel wrapped around his waist, dripping wet.

"Oh, I got a text from Hinata. Apparently Shikamaru's also bringing that new girl who's going to work with you guys." Sakura said, showing Sasuke the text. He shrugged disinterestedly and rifled through his drawers for something to wear. He walked behind the door and pulled on boxers and jeans, then came back for a shirt. Sakura pretended she wasn't looking at his bare chest, but her blush gave it away.

"Enjoying the view?" Sasuke smirked. Sakura glared, blushing even more.

"Shut up! I can't help it!" She whined. Sasuke rolled his eyes and and pulled on his shirt, and flopped down on the bed next to Sakura, making the old mattress creak beneath them. Sakura leaned backwards and snuggled up against his side. "Mmm. I kind of wish we weren't going out with Shikamaru and Hinata and that girl. I just want to hang out here now."

She could feel Sasuke's heart beating slowly and steadily, his chest rising and falling with each even breath. Despite being in a crummy old apartment on a beat up mattress, Sakura couldn't imagine feeling happier at that moment. It felt like everything was perfect right there. Sasuke's fingertips played absently with her hair as she hummed a song she'd heard on the radio earlier that day. She felt an inner peace she'd never known before, ever.

--

The movie theater was an older one, and therefore crappy, but it was also the cheapest one, and as Shikamaru and Sasuke were each supporting themselves, money was the main concern.

"I guess everyone else is running late?" Sakura murmured, scanning the lobby for the others. Sasuke had his hands shoved in his pockets and was sulking. He hadn't wanted to leave his apartment. He stood behind Sakura, not bothering to look around for their friends.

"Oh well, it looks like we'll just have to be alone." Sasuke said sarcastically. Sakura elbowed him.

"Be nice! Besides, I'm excited to meet that new girl. Aren't you?" Sakura smiled up at her boyfriend. Sasuke shrugged.

"Not really. Should I be?"

"Oh, you're hopeless." Sakura rolled her eyes and returned to scanning the lobby. "...I think I see Hinata." Sakura sighed, pointing to a potted plant.

"And now you're telling me to be nice? She's quiet and ugly, but not _that_- ow!"

"No, stupid, I mean she's standing behind the plant!" Sakura hissed. Sasuke squinted.

Sure enough, there stood Hinata, cowering behind the potted plant. "...And you want to set this girl up with Naruto. Hn." Sasuke smirked, folding his arms across his chest. Sakura bristled.

"Oh, shut up. Hinata! Over here!" Sakura called, waving. Hinata poked her head out of the plant and slowly made her way over to the couple. She was wearing a big puffy winter jacket that was much too big for her. Sasuke muttered something about crazy people, but Sakura hugged her friend happily.

"What the hell is she wearing that for?" Sasuke whispered in Sakura's ear as Hinata went to buy her ticket. Sakura glared.

"She's insecure, okay?!" Sakura hissed. Sasuke snorted but said nothing.

Just minutes before the movie was supposed to start, Shikamaru and the new girl arrived. Shikamaru was wearing black jeans and a pretty much destroyed looking army-green zip up jacket, which was fairly formal for him. Sakura raised an eyebrow at this, but Sasuke froze.

The new girl was short and curvy, but still extremely fit looking. She had wild blonde hair that was a few shades darker than Ino's and dark, seductive eyes.

"This is Temari. Temari, this is Sasuke and Sakura. Hinata is probably around here somewhere..." Shikamaru scratched his head, searching for Hinata. Temari ignored Sakura and smirked at Sasuke, holding out her hand. Sasuke arched an eyebrow.

"You can put your hand back now." He sneered. Temari just smiled and gave Sasuke 'bedroom eyes.' Sakura felt her body and mind go numb. There was definitely tension between Temari and Sasuke. The way they look into each other's eyes without backing down, the way Sasuke's posture had changed from slouched and bored... Sakura didn't want to deal with this now. She just wanted to be back at the apartment, keeping Sasuke away from this Temari girl.

"SO! ABOUT THAT POPCORN!" Sakura yelled, much too loudly, attracting glares from people around and making Shikamaru look confused and irritated. However, Sasuke and Temari didn't even seem to notice. They continued to look into each other's eyes and insult each other. Hinata came up behind them timidly.

"I-I-I-I h-h-h-have the t-t-t-t-tick-e-e-ets!" Hinata whispered, stammering.

They went into the theater with Temari and Sasuke still snarling at each other. Shikamaru and Sakura sat next to each other and then followed Hinata. The row was filled up, so Sasuke and Temari sat three rows behind them.

The movie began. On screen, there were guns and tanks and people dying. Sakura couldn't process any of it. Neither could Shikamaru.

"He definitely was supposed to sit next to me." Sakura mumbled. Shikamaru crossed his arms.

"Sexual tension is troublesome like that." He replied. He looked peeved, to say the least.

Halfway through the movie, Hinata left because it was too violent. By this time, Sasuke and Temari were still insulting each other, and Shikamaru and Sakura still weren't paying any attention to the movie.

"What a waste of my money." Shikamaru sulked. Sakura fidgeted with the bracelet on her wrist. Sasuke had given it to her, just for no reason. She smiled, remembering how he had shoved the box at her, not looking her in the eye. "For me?" She had whispered, astonished that Sasuke would have bothered to get her a present. He had nodded, still not looking at her. She opened the box. Inside was a plain silver chain, with three small, perfect pearls on it.

But Sakura knew better than to think that the fact that Sasuke had given her jewelry meant that he was too in love with her to want another girl. She bit her lip, trying not to cry. Everything had been going so well. Why did this have to happen?

Shikamaru leaned over towards her.

"Sasuke's not going to ditch you for that chick. Chill out." He whispered. Sakura met his eyes, her own wet with unshed tears. He scoffed. "Trust me." He sat back in his seat and faced the movie again. Sakura gulped. Shikamaru was right. But how had he known that she was worrying about that? She smiled at him.

"You're right. Thank you." She wiped away her tears. Shikamaru looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and nudged her foot with his.

"Stop crying; it's troublesome when girls cry."

--

They parted after the movie. Shikamaru and Temari were going to hang out with Kiba and Chouji (Sakura knew this meant getting as drunk as possible) and Sasuke and Sakura decided to head back to Sasuke's apartment.

"What a stupid movie." Sasuke kicked at a stone, looking annoyed. Sakura nodded.

"I didn't even understand it because it was so stupid." She added. She blushed as he took her hand in his without hesitation. Their eyes met and Sasuke's black eyes seemed to smile, though his expression never changed. Sakura giggled, blushing. Then she remembered how she had felt before Shikamaru had comforted (it occurred to Sakura how strange it was that Shikamaru of all people had comforted her) her but she shook it away. Shikamaru was right. Sasuke cared way too much about her to even think of another girl. She probably had been reading into it too much and overanalyzing everything.

They reached his apartment and Sakura flopped down on his couch. Sasuke perused the refrigerator as his stomach grumbled.

"There's some rice leftover from my dinner yesterday." He held out a pot that had been in the refrigerator, covered by plastic wrap. Sakura shook her head.

"No thanks, not hungry."

"Hn." Sasuke shrugged and reheated the rice for himself. They didn't talk much. Sakura turned on the television.

"Whoa, Sasuke, that guy looks just like you!" Sakura gasped. A young man, probably in his mid to late twenties, was on the screen. He was part of the breaking news that evening, it seemed. Sasuke looked over his shoulder and stopped dead, but Sakura didn't notice.

"Young millionaire is involved in scandal with oil company." Sakura read the scroll out loud. "Wow, that's freaky. He looks almost exactly like you- Sasuke?" She stopped when she saw Sasuke's face. It had gone sheet white.

--

W00t! Chapter one is done! Stay tuned for chapter two: Who is this young millionaire and why is Sasuke so distraught at the sight of him? Will Temari steal Sasuke? And what about Shikamaru and Hinata? PLEASE REVIEW!!!


	2. Ugly

Chapter Two: Ugly

"That one looks like a pig!" Sakura giggled, pointing to a cloud floating by. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"No, it definitely looks like a tea kettle." He retorted, stretching his legs out and yawning.

It was an oddly warm day out, and Sakura had seen Shikamaru enjoying it during lunch on the soccer field, just lying there and staring up at the clouds. She had joined him and now they lay outside together, the breeze fluffing Sakura's hair a bit. Sasuke had left early with the varsity soccer team for a game at a different high school, and Hinata was retaking a test, so Sakura was left alone. She copied Shikamaru and put her arms behind her head, feeling instantly relaxed. The only thing wrong was the smoke from Shikamaru's cigarette that kept blowing into her face. She waved it away, scrunching her nose.

"Gross! You know how bad that is for you?" She chided, rolling onto her stomach and resting her chin on her crossed arms. She lay next to him so now she could see his face better. He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah yeah. Shut up, pain in the ass." he said, but it had no bite to it. Lately he had trouble being as harsh with her. Because of Sasuke's busy schedule, they had ended up spending more and more time together and had become close friends.

Sakura laughed and flicked his nose. He glared. "Go away!" He whined. She smiled and pulled at some grass, just for an excuse to look away. He had dark eyes like Sasuke's; so intelligent and captivating. Her cheeks turned pinker than her hair at the thought of Shikamaru being sexy. He wasn't necessarily unattractive; just not someone she'd ever thought of in that way before. He was quite tall, and somehow, despite his unhealthy drinking and smoking habits, he appeared to be in relatively good shape. His skin was clear and he had that "bad boy" look going for him. Sakura smirked. She knew him too well because she knew he was way too lazy to ever actually do anything "bad." She stole another glance at his eyes, which were now staring up at the clouds, looking far away, and was reminded of the man on television. Her delicate features darkened.

"Sasuke has a brother, right?" Sakura asked, trying to sound casual. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and puffed on his cigarette.

"Dunno. Why?"

"It's just-well... we had a weird moment after the movies on Saturday. I went back to his house and we were just watching the news, and this guy that looked like an unhealthy, older version of him was shown. Something about a scandal with an oil company. And... Sasuke went really pale and was all quiet and angry and sullen for the rest of the night." Sakura frowned, the night replaying in her mind. He had slammed the cabinet door, turned off the television, and refused to talk about it.

"So? Sasuke's always quiet and angry and sullen."

"No! Usually he's quiet but still...I don't know. I know his moods."

"Yeah, I do too. He probably just was annoyed that he didn't get to sit next to you at the movies. I wouldn't worry about it. Needless trouble." Shikamaru replied, putting out his cigarette. Sakura smiled again, feeling comforted by Shikamaru's attitude. He was probably right about it.

"You're right. You know, I worry way too much about him. Half the time I'm just being paranoid. I don't know why, I guess... I'm just afraid." She whispered, staring at the clouds again. She rolled back onto her back and closed her eyes. "Things are never easy with him. But I love him anyway." She murmured, thinking of the rare occasions when he smiled at her. Sometimes she felt that when she looked into his eyes she'd sink into them and be lost forever. They just held so much in them. So much pain, sadness, hurt, anger...

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered, lighting a new cigarette. Sakura chuckled.

"Oh, you're so predictable. And lazy. You can't even come up with a new word!" She teased. Shikamaru smirked and flicked his cigarette at her.

"Damn straight."

--

Sasuke arrived to work a few minutes late, his hair still wet from his shower. He looked hassled and annoyed, which could only be expected of him after such a horrifyingly badly played game. He burst through the door, breaking the silence of the shop, to relieve Shikamaru of his shift. But there was no one to be found.

"Shikamaru..." Sasuke called, glancing around the tiny room. The guitars and basses looked back, seeming to mock him. He glared even more, and slammed the door shut, assaulting the little bell that hung from the doorknob.

'He'd better not be sitting in the storage room getting stoned again.' Sasuke thought irritably, throwing down his bag and fumbling with his set of keys for the key to the storage room. He threw open the door.

"Dude, what's your problem?"

A voice with the same attitude, albeit significantly higher than, Shikamaru's reached Sasuke's ears. He looked around and his eyes fell upon Temari, who was in the corner stacking boxes of books. She was wearing a tight green long sleeved dress and fishnets and combat boots and had studded bracelets on her arms. Her pretty dark eyes, caked in liner, narrowed at Sasuke. He rolled his eyes. He didn't have time for angst-ridden people like her.

"Where's Shikamaru?"

"What's it to you, dipshit?" She sneered.

Sasuke froze. _No one_ stood up to him. Occasionally Shikamaru did, but in the end he gave up at the appearance of Sasuke's famous (and probably patented) death-glare. And Sakura never needed to; Sasuke would never yell at her.

He took a step forward to try and intimidate her, but all that managed to do was make a large stack of boxes topple over onto Sasuke. Temari chuckled and sashayed over to Sasuke, who was trying to re-stack the cumbersome boxes.

"What?" He twitched, grasping a box so tightly it was giving under the force of his fingers. Temari smirked and Sasuke desperately wanted to punch the stupid smirk right off her face, but remembered hitting girls wasn't acceptable.

Although, Temari wasn't exactly a 'girl', now was she? A tiny, irritating voice inside Sasuke's head taunted him as his eyes darted to her _healthy_ chest. He glared and threw the box down, looking away and storming around to the other side of the pile of fallen boxes. Temari put her hands on her wide hips and raised an eyebrow at the handsome teen.

"You need some help?" Her lips twisted into an even wider smirk. Sasuke threw another death glare at her.

"No."

"Fine, then I'm peacing out. Suck ya later." Temari called over her shoulder, turning off the lights and slamming the door behind her.

After Sasuke had gotten over the initial shock at Temari's unconventional farewell, he realized she'd locked him in the storage room.

--

"I can't r-really say I like her th-that much." Hinata admitted, sipping at her piping hot mocha. Sakura sighed and blew bubbles in her iced coffee dejectedly.

"I mean, I talked to Shikamaru about it, and I _know_ I'm just overreacting. But... what a slut!" Sakura yelled angrily, slamming her fist down on the table. Hinata winced and resumed sipping. Sakura put her face in her hands. "I just am so afraid of messing up what we have, you know? Already this year has been so hectic... Hinata? Helloo!"

"S-sorry." Hinata whispered, looking away quickly and blushing. Sakura followed where her gaze had previously been to the other end of the food court to see Naruto, Kiba, and Shino ordering pizza. Naruto and Kiba were yammering on excitedly about presumably nothing while Shino adjusted his sunglasses and read a pamphlet.

Sakura rolled her eyes. Telling Hinata to just "go over and talk to him" was similar to telling Sasuke to wear a pink feather boa. In other words, it was not going to happen.

She whipped out her phone. If nothing else, Shikamaru was good at planning. She began texting him. Hinata peered across the table.

"What the h-heck are you d-doing?" She asked raising an eyebrow. Sakura giggled.

_ mall w hina. Naru and othrs across food court. Plan?_

She hit 'send' and giggled again, slightly evilly. Hinata sighed.

"I just w-wish he'd n-n-notice me." She said sadly, staring down into the depths of her mocha. Sakura's phone jingled.

_Spill food all over hina and start yelling. Fox boy's savior instincts should kick in._

She laughed at his reply. "Come on, I wanna throw this away." She picked up her tray of salad and Hinata timidly followed, wondering why Sakura didn't bother with the trashcan right behind her.

Sakura jiggled her cup of iced coffee. It was about half-full (or perhaps half-empty?) and would be enough to spill and scream about. She pulled the cheap plastic lid off and as the two neared the boys, looked for an opening.

"GAH!" Sakura shrieked. Her tray and all its contents seemed to fly out of her hands as she slipped, and right onto...

not Hinata.

There was a collective gasp within the food court. Sakura's jade eyes met black ones and they widened.

It was like the diet coke of Sasuke. He was tall, lean, and had short black hair. But his eyes were blank; emotionless but not stupid. Sakura was slightly reminded of the man on television a few nights ago but somehow this was different. ...Were people so obsessed with Sasuke they were starting to copy him? Sakura stared, horrified, into this man's eyes. They were so flat and unlike Sasuke's; Sasuke's eyes were like black smoke that tumulted and tumbled with thought and emotion and smoldered. These eyes were like a lake surface on a calm day. Placid, and unaffected.

"Sakura-chan! Don't worry, Sai will be fine!" Naruto's overly happy voice rang through the air like an annoying church bell early in the morning. Sakura winced and began to stand up. The man wiped the iced coffee off his face. Sakura stood up fully, then bowed frantically.

"I am SO sorry! I just slipped, and, and, and... well, yeah." She finished lamely, blushing and rubbing the back of her neck. Naruto grinned and grabbed a wad of napkins from a dispenser and began drying Sai off while laughing.

"It is fine, Sakura-chan! Sai likes having coffee spilled on him, don't you, Sai?" Naruto prodded Sai's cheek and went to throw the soaked napkins out. Sai twitched.

"It would be fine, if you weren't so ugly."

Sakura stared blankly. "Um... sorry, what'd you just say?"

"I SAID, it would be fine, if you weren't so ugly. Are you hard of hearing or are your ears so deformed and ugly that sound waves don't hit them right?" He replied coolly. Sakura fumbled for words, stammering and totally flabbergasted.

"You're a jerk!" She finally yelled. Sai laughed humorlessly.

"That the best you can do, ugly? Geez, even your eyes are ugly. Ugly!"

Sakura's face reddened even more, only now, she was angry. "How can you possibly dare to say that to someone?!" She cried. Sai shrugged.

"Because I don't care whether your feelings are hurt." He replied simply. Sakura stared blankly, then shook her head, turning back to Hinata. Clearly, this Sai guy was insane, and she needed to leave as soon as possible to save herself further embarrassment. Hinata was, as usual, speechless, anxiously wringing her hands and gazing up at Sakura.

"Let's get out of here." Sakura muttered. Hinata nodded furiously and the two girls left. Behind her, Sakura heard Sai say,

"Catch you later. Ugly."

Sakura turned her nose up and walked faster. Not only was she embarrassed, but in spite of the immaturity of Sai's taunts, they really stung. She'd always been self-conscious about her appearance, but this just confirmed her fears that she really was just... plain old ugly.

Her phone vibrated. Sakura delightedly flipped open her phone, only to see "Shikamaru has sent you 1 message."

She sighed and accepted the message.

_did it wrk???_

She glared.

_no. I slipped nd ths annyng guy called me ugly!_

She snapped her phone shut and decided to ignore Shikamaru's text messages for the rest of the day as vengeance. May as well anyway, she thought grinning, Gaara was going to freak when he saw her phone bill for this month. Between hours spent late at night talking to Sasuke (or rather, talking at Sasuke) and the fact that she texted Shikamaru all day, it was probably a monstrosity of a bill.

"Y-you know Sakura, your f-face is a r-rainbow of emotions! F-first you're angry, then sad, then m-mad, and all of a s-sudden you're ec-ecstatic!" Hinata giggled. Sakura shrugged.

"Must be that time of the month.." She said. Hinata nodded knowingly, and the girls left the mall. Hinata had driven there and Sakura hopped into the silvery convertible. It wasn't practical for the chilly fall air but it was fun to attract stares. They each put on sunglasses and turned the radio on high. Sakura giggled and fixed her hair which was slowly growing in.

"You know what? We should visit Sasuke at work!" Sakura grinned. With the extra time that midterms afforded them (she hardly needed to study; classes were so easy) she felt carefree. Hinata nodded in agreement and they pulled out of the mall parking lot and sped to the main street in Konoha where the music shop was located.

After badly parallel parking, the bell on the front door jingled signaling their entry. They poked their heads in, slowly taking off their sunglasses. Sakura's jade eyes landed on the front desk. Her sunglasses dropped to the ground.

"Oh shit..."

* * *

Hey guys! Boy, these chapters are much longer than they were in part one. And now, the story gets dramatic! -rubs hands together evilly- What do Hinata and Sakura find in the music store? And by the way, it's not the obvious option. Because that'd be boring. Mwahaha. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL OF MY REVIEWERS!! Your encouragement is hugely appreciated. Keep them coming, because a lot of times, I use your ideas:)

Coming up in chapter three: Ino's back in the picture, but this time she has a new target! Will Shikamaru and Sakura be able to devise a plan for getting Naruto and Hinata together? Will Temari keep her hands off Sakura's man? ...And just who is this "Sai" guy, anyway? PLEASE REVIEW!!


	3. Trouble in Paradise?

Chapter Three: Trouble in Paradise?

A/N: Still looking for that beta reader... sigh. This chapter was sooooooooo long! Almost as long as chapters one and two put together. I basically reworked this chapter three times; I just wasn't happy with it. I'm still not thrilled but at least the characters are in character in this version. Well, close as I could seem to get them, anyway. Answers to questions and stuff like that are at the bottom. Please review people, and I mean actually write something helpful. I know you all have great ideas and trust me, I ALWAYS use them in one way or another. Pwease? -puppy dog eyes-

recap:::

After badly parallel parking, the bell on the front door jingled signaling their entry. They poked their heads in, slowly taking off their sunglasses. Sakura's jade eyes landed on the front desk. Her sunglasses dropped to the ground.

"Oh shit..."

:::end of recap:::

What they saw reminded Sakura of a picture she had seen of a war zone. Bits of plaster lay everywhere; the various instruments that had been near the door to the storage room were either destroyed or appeared to have been thrown about. There was what seemed to be a battering ram constructed out of drums sitting by the cash register.

"Ch-chouji? What are you doing here?" Hinata whispered. "And Shikamaru?"

Chouji and Shikamaru attempted to hide hacksaws behind their backs, looking guiltily at the two girls. They stood near the door to the storage room. Already part of the door had been sawed off and Sasuke's voice came in from the other side of the door.

"If I'm not out of here soon, there will be blood."

Chouji shuddered and hastily went back to work, munching on chips with his free hand anxiously. Shikamaru scoffed and tossed the saw over his shoulder, narrowly missing Chouji.

Sakura, Hinata, and Shikamaru all winced as the saw hit an expensive looking set of glass bells, sending them to the ground to shatter.

"Eh... this is all that troublesome Temari's fault." Shikamaru muttered.

"Don't ever go drinking with that bitch! She's insane!" Chouji piped in. Shikamaru sighed.

"What a drag, man. She locked Sasuke in the storage room."

Sakura stared at the teen with the top knot, jade eyes wide in confusion.

"But why would she do that?! And don't you idiots have spare keys to the room?!"

Shikamaru shrugged and lit a cigarette. "Who knows why. And no, she had the only key. At any rate, she's way too troublesome to have around. Hopefully the boss'll fire her." He exhaled and Sakura and Hinata coughed and sputtered, waving away the smoke.

Just then, the door fell down and Sasuke appeared, looking angrier than Sakura had ever seen him.

"That's it." He snarled. "This is _war."_

--

"Well, this looks fun! Anyone up to it?"

Kakashi raised his eyebrow at the class, tapping the board marker against his hand cheerfully. There was the shrill sound of desks scraping against the floor as students shifted awkwardly in their seats. No one knew what the hell Kakashi was onto this time. After arriving ten minutes late, he'd instantly begun to scribble strange figures on the board that looked more like an alien treasure map than calculus. Then again, these two things are commonly confused and nearly interchangeable.

Sakura glared daggers at her teacher/ex-boyfriend, but not because of the nasty breakup. Rather, because his teaching style was more than frustrating. Kakashi seemed to find it amusing to provide students with as little information as possible and then expect them to be able to perform to perfection.

As usual, the only one who wasn't the slightest bit confused was Sasuke. Even though most students were drained by the onslaught of studying that midterms had wrought the week before, Sasuke remained in top form. It irked Sakura at times, but mostly made her admire him even more. She smiled dreamily as her boyfriend raised his hand, meeting Kakashi onyx eye for onyx eye. Well, as much as he could. The eyepatch complicated things a tad.

Kakashi's eye crinkled at the corner. "Of course Sasuke would be up to it. Alright." He tossed the board marker at Sasuke a little too fast, and Sasuke caught it easily, giving Kakashi THE deathglare. Sakura sank a little in her seat; she knew she was what had caused their companionship to come to an abrupt and permanent halt.

"Actually, sensei, Uchiha's had a lot of 'fun' lately. Allow me."

All eyes turned to the back. Sakura's breath caught in her throat; she hadn't realized Sai was in her calculus class! How could she have missed that? Sai's gaze landed on her and he lifted his dark brows a bit, but his eyes remained expressionless.

Kakashi shrugged. "Knock yourself out, Sai."

Sai stood up and strode to the front, but paused slightly when he reached Sakura's spot. She froze when she realized his fingertips had lightly grazed her cheek.

"Hey. Ugly." He said under his breath. Sasuke flinched when he saw Sai's hand make contact with Sakura's cheek. When Sai reached him, he held out a hand to accept the marker. Sasuke gave him his famous deathglare, waiting for Sai to cower or back down.

But he didn't, at all. Infuriated, Sasuke shoved the marker at him, continuing to glare. It apparently didn't faze Sai one tiny bit.

As soon as the bell rang, signaling the end of the period, Sakura practically leapt out of her seat, attempting to grab Sasuke to explain, before he had the chance to go off and sulk.

"Gah! Sasuke, wait!" Sakura yelled, managing to grip the back of Sasuke's blazer. Sasuke pulled free and turned to face her. For once, his height intimidated her and despite her previous intentions, she almost cowered at the stony look on his face. She bit her lip as Inner Sakura reminded her that this was _Sasuke._ He loved her and was just being an irrational, jealous, and overprotective buffoon, as usual.

"Hm?" He raised his eyebrows. Sakura sighed. She knew this mood. It was the "I'm Sasuke and no one dare try to reason with me, because I'm smarter and stronger and generally better" mood. It seemed to coincide with the hurt and sulky mood.

"Never mind. Just forget it." She said, turning and walking away without looking back. She smirked triumphantly, knowing he was standing there, feeling guilty and horrible.

--

Sasuke checked his watch and slung his bag over his shoulder in the way that so many girls sighed over, and so many boys tried to imitate but never quite got. He didn't even realize when three freshman fainted as he walked by, glaring at his timepiece, judging how much time he had.

If he ran, he could make it just in time to catch Sakura leaving classic literature of Konoha, and since Shikamaru had that class with her, they could all take lunch together without having to wait around for each other as they usually did. Inwardly smirking at his own efficiency, he sprinted down the hall, dodging wild fangirls as he went, taking the stairs up two at a time to Sakura's class.

He arrived just as she and Shikamaru were leaving the classroom. Shikamaru looked up and saw Sasuke, his mouth distinctly forming the word 'troublesome.' Sasuke's muscles tensed at the thought of Sakura complaining to Shikamaru about his behavior. She must have, if Shikamaru was saying he was troublesome. He could imagine the scene so well, he could practically hear Sakura telling Shikamaru, whilst looking up at the lazy teen under her long eyelashes. A look that had particular power over Sasuke. But he shook the jealousy and anger off; for now his main mission was to make sure Sakura did not remain angry at him.

"Sakura. Wait." Sasuke said loudly, attracting stares from fangirls all around. He weaved through the crowd expertly and caught up with Shikamaru and Sakura. He raised his eyebrows at Shikamaru meaningfully. "I need to talk to you." He said to Sakura. Shikamaru sighed and shrugged.

"I'll meet you guys at the cafeteria." He slunk off, and as soon as he was out of sight, Sasuke nearly dragged Sakura down the stairs and out of the building. It was sunny but cold outside, and Sakura shivered and instinctively leaned into Sasuke for warmth. When she remembered she was angry at him, she pulled away quickly. They walked to a bench in silence and sat down.

"Well?" She asked, crossing her arms and tapping her foot against the ground impatiently. He swore under his breath and looked away, shifting uncomfortably on the bench. He sucked at apologies, and usually was able to avoid them at all.

But now that he was with Sakura, the dynamics had changed and he was stuck doing things he'd never had to before. Among those things were apologizing, and shopping. He shuddered and forced that thought out of his head. As bad as apologizing was, shopping was a new layer of hell that he hadn't known existed until the pink-haired girl had come along.

"Um..." He looked away as he tried to think of what to say. All through Physics he'd thought about it but hadn't gotten any closer to figuring out what would be best. He hadn't paid a bit of attention and had spent the whole time drafting what he'd say, editing it and choosing each word with care. Now, all of his ideas seemed to have leaked out of his mind, and he merely sat wordless in front of Sakura, who was looking colder and more annoyed by the second.

The image of Sai's fingers making contact with _his_ Sakura's soft skin assaulted his mind and his eyes stung with jealousy. Any ideas of apologizing flew out of his mind. "Sai touched you." He searched Sakura's eyes but all he could see was exasperation.

"Sasuke, you _know_-"

"Just explain."

"...He's just weird, okay? I spilled coffee on him at the mall the other day and now I guess he's taken it upon himself to pay me back." She shrugged. "Happy now? I had almost _nothing to do with-_"

"Is he bothering you? Following you?" His voice was slightly more gentle but nonetheless interrogative. Sakura shook her head and Sasuke visibly relaxed.

"Then it was just a random occurrence and is unlikely to happen again."

"Yes, Sasuke." Sakura said, rolling her eyes. She couldn't help but smile though, at the worried frown on his face that still remained. She laughed and put her arms around his neck, burying her face in his neck and inhaling his scent deeply. She felt one arm slip around her while his hand tugged gently on her hair, pulling her head back slightly.

Jade eyes met onyx eyes, and then Sasuke bent forward, kissing her lips softly, his fingers tangled in her hair. He pulled her up onto his lap and kissed slightly harder.

"I'm... sorry. For being stupid." He muttered, embarrassed, between kisses. Sakura giggled and pulled away, staring into his eyes and pushing back some of his hair.

"It's okay, you silly moron." She said, pinching his cheek affectionately.

"Shut up and kiss me, woman." he smirked, pulling her closer against him again, taking her lips again.

Somewhere in the back of Sakura's mind a tiny voice reminded her that Shikamaru and Hinata were probably waiting for them. Inner Sakura batted the voice away but it never left, and finally Sakura drew back, reluctantly, from Sasuke. His eyes searched hers, his dark brows drawn together in worry.

"Shikamaru and Hinata are still in the cafeteria, waiting for us." She explained, frowning, and kissed him lightly on the lips. "At least we're okay, right?"

Sasuke nodded, grumbling and clearly irritated.

They walked back to the cafeteria, hand in hand. Sasuke was sulking because their activity had been cut short, but Sakura felt much better, knowing that they weren't fighting. It seemed like lately their relationship had been under some strain and she couldn't help but feel paranoid. After her short fling with Kakashi, she was always tense and acutely aware of how quickly the tables could turn; how all of a sudden things could start going horribly wrong.

Speaking of things going horribly wrong, something was about to ruin her good mood

The couple entered the cafeteria to find that a loaded silence hung in the air. Everyone was silent and staring, fearfully, at something. Sakura followed their united gaze to the cause of the silence.

"It's just soup. It'll clean up. You don't have to be such a pain in the ass about it." Shikamaru's voice hit Sakura's ears. Sakura's mouth dropped open. This looked bad.

Shikamaru and Ino stood before each other. Ino's navy eyes flashed dangerously and instead of slouching as usual, Shikamaru stood up straight. His shoulders were tensed and his fists gripped his tray so hard his knuckles bleached.

"These shoes were designer. And they're _ruined_." Ino whispered. Despite the pricey flats that had soup spilled all over them, there seemed to be something more to the fight. An extra layer of tension hung thickly over the cafeteria and everyone seemed to feel it.

"Maybe you shouldn't own troublesome stuff like that." Shikamaru sneered. Sakura flinched at the pain in his eyes; she remembered his feelings for Ino. Why he cared for Ino, she did not understand, but she could read it in his face now. One of Ino's followers glared at Shikamaru and ushered a distraught Ino out of the silent cafeteria. Shikamaru shrugged and turned to go, pushing past Sakura and Sasuke wordlessly.

After a moment, the silence passed and the cafeteria was back to its noisy self, with fangirls practically catapulting themselves at Sasuke and fanboys offering Sakura strange gifts as usual. Sasuke grabbed her arm and they escaped the cafeteria. Sakura and Sasuke each smiled inwardly; it felt like old times when she'd first come to Konoha high and Sasuke had continually been saving her from insane suitors. They stopped running when they were a good distance away, the sound of confused fans barely audible.

"We've got to do something about Shikamaru and Ino." Sakura whispered, looking up at Sasuke sadly. "Imagine how much pain they must be in right now because of each other. It shouldn't go on like this."

Sasuke let go of her arm but snatched her hand up as they walked down the hall. "He can take care of himself. It's his business."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Oh, you just want to go make out, you buffoon."She poked him in the arm playfully and smiled. Sasuke looked bewildered.

"...what's your point?"

Sakura sighed. "Never mind. But in any case, we've got to help Shikamaru!"

But how could they possibly help? It looked like Ino hated him, and sometimes Sakura thought Shikamaru hated her. "Suggestions and ideas are always welcome!" She said, elbowing him.

"Oof!-Fine. Since Shikamaru's old plan at the restaurant clearly didn't work, and a love potion, which was a dumb idea anyway-"

"Did someone say _love potion?"_

The couple stopped, Sasuke with a protective arm around Sakura. He relaxed when he saw who it was.

"Don't scare us like that! Who are you?!" Sakura demanded. Sasuke grumbled.

"It's just Tenten. Let's go-"

"Hey, no you don't! You were talking about love potions! Having trouble in paradise?" Tenten asked with a knowing smile and a wink usually characteristic to creepy salesmen. Sakura's eyes landed on a strange looking dagger that Tenten was currently holding. She stood on her tiptoes and whispered into Sasuke's ear (while trying to not get caught up in how good he smelled).

"This girl is nuts."

Tenten was a fairly pretty girl, and also fairly normal _looking._ Aside from the knives, she seemed like a typical Konoha student. However, it seemed she had popped out of a locker, her uniform ripped, wrinkled, and ill-fitting.

"So, wanna buy a love potion?" Tenten batted her eyelashes but pulled out the dagger, letting it glint in the sunlight threateningly. Sakura's eyes widened and she began to back away. With the same expression on his face that he had when dealing with Naruto, Sasuke turned away.

"No, why would I? And don't follow us, Tenten." He took Sakura by the hand and pulled her away.

"Who WAS that?!" She hissed once they were out of earshot. Sasuke shrugged.

"Tenten. Known for her knives and love potions to make extra money."

"Extra money? Is she poor?" Sakura's brows knit together in concern and Sasuke felt his annoyance dissipate at the sight.

"Yes. Very. She barely has enough to eat."

Sakura stopped, her shoes screeching on the linoleum floor in protest. "WHAT!? And you didn't buy one from her?!"

"I'm making ends meet too. She knows that." Sasuke snapped.

"But you have enough to eat!"

"Sometimes. But it's not something I count on. Same with Shikamaru and Tenten. It's hard supporting yourself. Grow up, Sakura. Not everyone has a nice comfortable little home and family to go to." He stopped when he saw Sakura's crestfallen face. He bit his lip, realizing he'd hurt her feelings. It hadn't been his intention; he just was frustrated at her naivete. "Don't do that." He said, flinching at her expression.

"I understand. It's just... I don't get it! Why do so many people at this school live alone? Are there no family values here in Konoha?!"

Sasuke's face was grimly set. "I don't know about family values, but I do know that you clearly have been extremely sheltered-"

"Oh look, it's the bastard!"

Naruto was walking by with Kiba, Shino, and Sai. Sasuke's eyes landed on Sai and his features darkened even more. Sai met Sasuke's eyes without fear and Sakura, Naruto, Kiba, and even Shino collectively winced.

Sensing tension and a possible fight, Kiba interjected, "Looks like we walked in at a bad time. We'll just be going! Later, dudes!" He laughed nervously, grabbing Sai's hand and attempting to drag him in the other direction desperately. Sai pulled out of his grasp easily.

"No, I want to stay. I haven't talked to Sakura in awhile." He deadpanned. A small white dog popped out of the pack on Kiba's back that Sakura had always assumed had books in it. She stared in horror as the dog jumped out and landed on Sai's face.

"Gyah! Get the fucking dog off my face!" Sai's voice was muffled. Naruto, Kiba, Sasuke, and Shino looked at each other with slightly evil sparks in their eyes. Sakura tugged on Shino's sleeve.

"Wh-what the hell?!" Sakura stammered. Shino looked at Kiba. Kiba grinned and slung an arm around Sakura's neck, much to Sasuke's dismay.

"Sakura, meet Akamaru, the best friend I could have!" He gestured to the little white dog, and the dog jumped off of Sai and ran over to Sakura, wagging his tail and panting. Sakura's heart melted and she bent down, letting Akamaru lick her face. She scratched him behind his ears and he barked happily. Kiba stood, transfixed by her for the first time. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I still can't believe you get away with having that dumb slobbery dog here." Sasuke said. Kiba smirked and ruffled the top of Akamaru's head, letting him jump up onto his shoulder and crawl back into his pack.

"It's a great way to meet chicks, I mean look how Sakura just went all-" He halted at the expression on Sasuke's face. "-ahem. I don't know why they still let me." Kiba said, shrugging. Meanwhile, Sai had finished wiping Akamaru's saliva off of his face with a tissue and looked at Sakura pointedly before nodding towards the other direction.

"Let's get going." He said to his friends. Kiba shrugged and followed, as did Shino. Naruto hugged Sakura and gave Sasuke thumbs-up before bouncing away with the other three.

"Is he always so protective of Sakura?" Sai asked as the four teens walked to the cafeteria. Naruto nodded.

"The only guy that can safely have a conversation with her without running the risk of being sabotaged in one way or another is Shikamaru. And that's just because Sasuke knows Shikamaru is way too lazy to ever try anything with her." Naruto said through clenched teeth. Kiba growled.

"Sasuke makes it impossible for any guy to even talk to Sakura, but on top of that, makes it impossible for any guy to have a girlfriend! All the chicks are head over heels for that asshole!" He whined.

The three looked at Shino, who shrugged.

"I only know Sasuke as a rival in biology class. I do not deal with him outside of that class."

Kiba frowned."But don't you have trouble getting dates cause of him? And, come on dude, what about Hinata? I see you eying her in trigonometry. Does she have an obsession with Sasuke too that makes it hard for you to get closer to her?" He grinned, elbowing Shino and winking. Shino shook his head, but Naruto glared.

"Don't talk like that about Hinata! She doesn't like the bastard." He yelled. Kiba stared, wide eyed.

"Chill out! What's your problem? I didn't even say anything about her! Why... do you have the hots for her?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Akamaru gave a muffled bark from inside his pack. Naruto blushed and waved his hands, shaking his head.

"No! She just is a nice girl and I don't think you should talk about her."

"...Have you ever even had a conversation with her-" Kiba eyed Naruto suspiciously.

Sai scoffed. "Enough about Hinata. Is there anything I should know about Sakura?"

Naruto nodded fiercely, forgetting about Hinata momentarily. "She's AWESOME! In the beginning of the year, she hit Ino in the head with a soccer ball. You know Ino, right?"

Sai nodded. With a look of certainty, he said " I'm going to show him up and date Sakura." His face was blank save for a gleam of determination in his eyes. Naruto, Kiba, and Shino stared. Kiba was the first to speak.

"Look... dude... I know you're new and all, but... there are just some things you can't change. Sakura and Sasuke were like... meant to be. Sasuke won't let you near her." Kiba said, trying to reason with Sai. Naruto nodded enthusiastically.

"Yah, Sakura's hot and all, but Sasuke isn't going to have it. Not to mention Sakura's all starry-eyed for him!"

Sai laughed humorlessly. "Well, I guess things are about to change."

--

Well, that was a long chapter! Sigh I am trying to have the entire cast of Naruto present in part two because I feel like I kind of ignored most of them in part one. It's hard to introduce the female characters because let's face it: most of the girls as characters are poorly developed.

Jiraiya: Hmm, I disagree!

Sakura Uchiha: PERV!

Anyway, please review and let me know how I'm doing! I'd really like to improve my writing skills, and not just keep churning out badly-written chapters.

Answers to some questions/concerns:

Q: You got Kakashi's name mixed up in part one.

A: I know!!

Q: When are Naruto and Hinata getting together?

A: If they do get together in this part (yes, there will be a part three eventually) then it's not going to be for awhile. I want to slowly build up to it to make it seem natural.

At any rate, thanks. AND IF ANYONE WANTS TO BETA-READ MY CHAPTERS PLEASE EMAIL ME!!

uh, right. Gomen! .

Coming up in chapter four: Sai is determined to make Sakura his, but why? And will he succeed or will our favorite avenger stand in his way? And what about Shikamaru and Ino? And just who is this Tenten chick, anyway?


	4. A Pretty Good Kisser

Chapter four: A Pretty Good Kisser

The smell of oil paint pervaded Sakura's nose and she wrinkled it before sneezing several times. She grinned at the irritated glances she received and turned back to her work, although 'work' was a term she used loosely. As evidenced by her art skills that were similar to those of a young toddler (or Naruto) Sakura was not her happiest here in the art studio, as she made valiant but pointless attempts to recreate on canvas the pear before her. It wasn't an especially odd looking pear, but for some reason the paint on her canvas looked like a serious mold problem. She stepped back to evaluate the piece. The ugly art project that looked like a sure sign of insanity hardened her resolve to do a good job. She took another fruitless (haha) stab at painting the damn pear.

She was just getting into an angry inner rant about how it wasn't fair that she was forced to take art classes whereas art students weren't forced to take calculus classes, when a disdainful grunt interrupted her. She slowly looked over her shoulder, channeling Sasuke's evil glowering abilities until she saw that it was just Sai. She stuck her tongue out, but turned back quickly to her work before conversation could ensue, therefore encouraging Sai's advances. Sasuke might maul him if he went near her again.

She almost laughed out loud at the thought. The image of Sasuke chasing after the famed cross country runner and artist, Sai, with an ax was just too funny. Sasuke was so competitive and determined that he'd probably catch up easily to his shorter lookalike.

"Your painting is almost as ugly as you, it looks like you vomited on the canvas." Sai observed with the same tone as a coroner when deducing that a murder victim was dead. Sakura spun around on her heel to face him again, her cheeks now pinker than her hair.

"While my art skills leave something to be desired, I'm quite the success in the physics lab." She hissed. Sai raised an eyebrow, looking genuinely interested.

"Oh? I'll have to keep that in mind, Ugly." His flat black eyes looked over her, uninhibited, and Sakura reddened in part fury and part anger, realizing he had turned her words into a double entendre. She tried to turn her mind back to her work, but to no avail. The way their conversation was going reminded her of when she and Sasuke first became friends, and the thought was startling. 'He's just trying so hard to copy Sasuke,' she thought bitterly...but wasn't every guy in Konoha High? However, Sai was doing a better job than most. Sakura scoped the room and stifled laughter. Almost every guy in the room, no matter what hair color or type, had their hair styled like Sasuke's. It was even funnier because as far as she knew, Sasuke didn't even pay attention to his hair. When it got long enough that he couldn't see, he took a pair of scissors and hacked off the parts that were bothering him, without even troubling himself with so much as a mirror.

"Oh, Sai, this is _beautiful_ work! A rare true piece of art! Your skills are like a delicate blossom, flourishing into an exquisite flower." The art teacher, Gai, gushed, practically drooling over Sai's canvas. Sakura bristled at the praise and flicked her eyes over to Sai's canvas quickly. Her jaw dropped.

She had never known there were that many colors in a stupid pear! He'd managed to bring so many more colors into the pear than just the sour green that Sakura had put into her stick figure equivalent of the fruit. Gorgeous blues and oranges were incorporated and smooth yet unrestrained brush strokes signaled the texture and form of the pear.

Her eyes traveled from the painting to Sai's face and he locked eyes with her. She looked away quickly again but the hairs on the back of her neck were raised, she knew he was still staring at her. She couldn't resist turning around again to meet his eyes.

"Thank you, Gai-sensei." His monotone voice was clipped, those placid black pools set on her. "I have always enjoyed beautiful things."

After class there was a rush to put away everything before Gai could stop one of them to lecture them on different aspects of art and oil painting. When she had more time, Sakura found Gai extremely entertaining, with his cliched phrases and smiles, and that haircut... But today she had a calculus class, and an extremely gorgeous boyfriend, to get to.

Sakura tucked her box of oil paints away on a shelf and fought her way to the door, through the other students desperate to escape Gai's kind but dreaded clutches. Her elbow connected with Sai's rib cage as they both squeezed out of the door at the same time.

"Sorry!" Sakura said quickly, blushing hotly. Sai shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets. She pulled on her backpack and got ready to run across the campus when Sai caught her by the strap of her backpack, causing her to swerve around awkwardly, flailing her arms around like some sort of disturbed bird.

"We're going to the same place. Let me walk you." He deadpanned. Sakura bit her lip, what if Sasuke saw them? "We'll take a roundabout way so your boyfriend doesn't flip out." Sai said, already walking down a set of side stairs. Sakura deflated. Well, as long as Sasuke wouldn't see, she decided grudgingly. It couldn't hurt. Well... yes it could. Sai could end up a rotting bloody pulp inside a black trashbag in a ditch somewhere, baking in the sun.

The day was gray and misty and cold, and the sky was threatening to downpour at any second. The wind whipped Sakura's short pink locks violently around her face and she hugged herself to keep her blazer and tie from being blasted away. She was so busy trying to stay warm that she nearly jumped out of her skin at Sai's light touch on her shoulder.

"You're cold." He said and guided her into a building that was in between the building with the art room and the math and science facility. "We'll go this way."

As they walked, Sakura took the opportunity to observe Sai. He was significantly shorter than Sasuke, although most people were, and barely made five foot eleven inches. His hair was much softer and more tamed than Sasuke's and didn't stand up on end, defying gravity in the process, as Sasuke's seemed to do no matter what he did to it. Sakura smirked at the memory of going through an entire bottle of styling mousse trying to fix that damn cowlick, while Sasuke did homework and tried to ignore his girlfriend's hands running through his hair. His face was rounder and less defined than Sasuke's, although there was still a remarkable resemblance. His eyes weren't focused and didn't seem to have that gleam of intelligence the way that Sasuke's and Shikamaru's eyes had. His body was less lanky and much less muscular, but still had a graceful, athletic, and sleek look to it that probably accounted for half of what made him so similar looking to Sasuke.

"Something about me you find intriguing, Sakura?" Sai's flat voice shook her from her thoughts and she flamed tomato red.

"S-sorry, I just was-"

"Comparing me to Sasuke?"

She was speechless, and since he practically seemed psychic anyway there was no point in denying it. She nodded wordlessly.

He stopped walking and turned to look at her as they reached the calculus classroom. They were late now, and everyone else was inside. Sakura could see Sasuke's telltale cowlick on the back of his head as he concentrated on Kakashi, taking notes in his careful, neat handwriting, with black ink. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration and his back was tensed. Sakura's fingers twitched; she wanted to reach out and touch his shoulder and tell him to relax.

"Should we go in?" His usually dead voice was laced with a joking tone that she hadn't known he was capable of. Sakura turned to him and raised her pink brows.

"Of course we should. We can't skip class." She opened the door and Kakashi stopped talking as all heads turned to the two late students. Sakura met Sasuke's eyes and winked, causing him to visibly relaxed. Kakashi chuckled.

"I'd give you detention but that'd be the pot calling the kettle black I suppose." He said wryly. Sakura laughed and took her seat next to Sasuke and pulled out her notebook. His eyes questioned her and she smiled warmly, drawing a quick stick figure of herself in front of an easel, with a scribble on the easel. Sasuke smirked and rolled his eyes, leaning over and writing 'don't give yourself so much credit, I'm sure it was much worse' under the picture in his precise, neat, perfect handwriting. Sakura glared and kicked his leg, then turned to the front where Kakashi was adding to a very suspicious looking diagram on the board.

Sai took his usual seat towards the back, watching Sakura and Sasuke say so much with just the way their eyes met. It had been so long since he'd been able to have something like that with someone, and he stared after them hungrily. He hadn't felt much in a long time but right now he felt as though he'd been lit on fire by jealousy and the flames engulfed him, turning everything else to ash.

He'd heard talk from nearly everyone about how Sakura had changed Sasuke. She'd made him more open, and revealed to everyone his sense of humor and personality that had been deeply buried underneath years of pain that no one seemed to know the source of, merely the extent of. Sai forced himself to drag his eyes away from the couple, who were now stifling laughter at something Sasuke had written in Sakura's notebook.

Maybe... she could help him too.

The thought grew wings in his head. He knew Sasuke and Sakura were teetering on the edge in their relationship and it wouldn't take much to break them up at the moment, as long as he used Sasuke's jealousy to his advantage. He felt his own fiery jealousy start to become more controlled. He didn't even have to get Sakura to do anything: a little lie and it'd be curtains for Konoha's favorite couple.

* * *

Sakura hit the tennis ball across the court to Hinata, who ducked as the ball came towards her. The ball hit the chainlink fence behind her and bounced sadly away.

"He just has been flirting with me so much! I don't know if I can handle it!" Sakura called across the court. They were in PE and attempting to play tennis, but seeing as tennis usually involves hitting a ball back and forth, it was not a successful game. Hinata was scared to death of the ball and would run away, terrified, when the ball came anywhere near her. She was getting better though, now she only ducked quickly as though a cannonball had been fired towards her.

Hinata shrugged as Sakura grabbed another tennis ball to lob across the court. "He's probably just doing it to annoy Sasuke, but that doesn't make it any more tolerable." She added, serving the ball particularly hard. Hinata gasped and nearly fell to the ground in terror. "Sorry!" Sakura called hastily. She was about to speak again to complain more about Sai when a familiar voice reached her ears.

"Sakura-chan! Hinata-chan!" Naruto cried joyfully. "Boy, you guys suck at tennis, huh?" He laughed, picking up a tennis ball and tossing it up in the air to catch it.

"Why are you here, Naruto-kun? It's the girls' PE class. Don't you have a class to be in?" Sakura asked warily. Hinata was busy staring at the ground, flushing hotly and twisting her hands.

"Nah, I have a free period right now and saw you guys were having so much trouble. In fact, your teacher asked me to help you, Hinata-chan!" He smiled kindly at Hinata who nearly exploded at the acknowledgment of her existence. Sakura exhaled with relief. Maybe this way Hinata would gather the courage to ask Naruto out. Naruto practically bounced over to Hinata happily. "You can go, Sakura-chan. I want to help Hinata-chan for now!"

Sakura winked at Hinata and gave her the thumbs up. "Good luck!" She called, looking at Hinata pointedly. Hinata looked nearly purple she was blushing so much. After Sakura had disappeared from sight and Naruto had finished waving, he turned to Hinata, leaning in conspiratorially and basically ignoring all rules about personal space. Hinata was both ecstatic and horrified.

"Alright Hinata-chan, this..." He grinned, his sky colored eyes sparkling, "is a tennis ball." He bounced the ball off the ground with Sakura's abandoned racket. "Not a projectile object meant to kill you." He added with a wink. His handsome face was slightly pink from the chilly fall air and the corners of his eyes crinkled in amusement.

"Y-yes..." Hinata murmured. Naruto chuckled.

"And this is a tennis racket, used to hit the ball across the court to your opponent. You need to actually use it." He joked gently. He bounced the ball at the net and it came back quickly. He caught it. "Although you should probably try to not hit the net."

Hinata nodded, feeling determination well up inside of her. She wanted so badly for Naruto to think she was cool, she was ready to try her hardest at tennis. Maybe if he continued to play tennis with her, he'd see how much she appreciated and loved him and his happy-go-lucky personality. Her mind briefly visited memories from a year ago. _Those days._ She shuddered at the nightmares that had been made real, and wondered if Naruto knew he'd saved her life that one day...

"And if you get really good, you can play with Shikamaru on dates!" Naruto said as he sent the ball across the court. It hit the fence and came back; once again he caught it effortlessly. Hinata froze.

"W-what?" She whispered. He raised his eyebrows.

"Aren't you guys dating?"

She shook her head violently. Naruto almost seemed relieved, but Hinata blamed that on wishful thinking. He couldn't possibly be interested in her. "Oh! Well, I'm an idiot. Hehe. Well Shikamaru is actually pretty good at tennis, so is the Bastard so you have friends you can try your new skills on!" He laughed and handed her a racket. "So, the basic idea is that you want to hit the ball back to me." He pointed to the court and Hinata nodded, butterflies going berserk inside her stomach. They were more like fighter planes than delicate insects. "So, let's just try to hit the ball back and forth with that in mind. Not for points or anything." He smiled and gave her an encouraging wink and thumbs up. Hinata blushed, he was so kind to people like her. He'd be a great teacher, even if he seemed clumsy and idiotic at times. She knew better. He was sweet and gentle and more understanding than perhaps anyone else at Konoha high, except for maybe Sakura.

He jogged to the other side of the net. "So I'm going to serve it to you. Nice and slow." Hinata steeled herself for the onslaught of neon green fuzzy balls that Sakura had made her accustomed to, but instead the ball bounced simply over the net. Hinata swallowed, met Naruto's sparkling blue eyes, and swung her racket with both hands with her eyes scrunched tightly shut.

She opened them slowly; she had missed the ball and it was rolling away behind her. She looked over at Naruto who was laughing.

"You gotta look at the ball if you want to hit it, Hinata-chan. I don't think anyone can play tennis with their eyes shut, probably not even Sasuke-bastard!" His loud voice rang through the cool air and Hinata flushed, worrying her lip and trying to not cry in front of her crush.

He hit another one towards her, even more slowly than before. Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered his soothing, kind voice, and with her opalescent eyes fixed on the ball, she swung with all her might, her heart pounding in her chest.

"HOLY SHIT! OOH YEAH! GO HINATA! YOU ROCK!"

* * *

Sasuke patted his face dry as he emerged from the shower in the boys' locker room. He cracked his neck as he folded the towel, heading towards his locker. The locker room was usually crowded, but today everyone seemed to be gathered towards one side. Sasuke glanced over. It was just that new guy Sai attracting everyone's attention. Sasuke had been momentarily concerned with Sai because of his interaction with Sakura, but after Sakura had established that it was just a fluke, Sasuke no longer bothered with his look-alike.

Sai was on the cross country team and was already famous for his incredible artwork. He was also well known for being a Sasuke copy, however Sasuke's popularity with the female population of Konoha hadn't been diminished by Sai's arrival. In Sasuke's mind, Sai was no threat. He tuned out Sai's monotonous voice as he dried himself off and began changing into his uniform for the walk home.

"...That Sakura girl." Voices floated over and reached Sasuke's ears.

Sasuke pulled his undershirt over his head and looked over out the corner of his eye.

"Oh man, she's so hot. Sasuke's so lucky."

"Yeah, she's actually a pretty good kisser. Better than the other Konoha girls I've-"

Sasuke didn't hear anymore; he was too busy barrelling towards Sai with one thought in his mind.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Sai screamed as Sasuke smacked into him, tackling him to the ground. Sasuke sat on top of him and gripped the collar of his tee shirt.

"I'm going to kill you, you fucking asshole!" Sasuke hissed. Sai's eyes widened and he grabbed Sasuke's ankles, flipping him backwards. Sasuke sprang back up, pulling his fist back, targeted right at Sai's nose. Sai kneed him in the stomach, but not hard enough to deter Sasuke.

"FIGHT! FIGHT!" Kiba yelled, pounding his fists on the bench in front of him. Shino raised his eyebrows.

"You're _encouraging_ this?"

Kiba nodded gleefully. Shino sighed and shook his head. Neji folded his arms across his chest.

"I hope Sai demolishes that bastard." He said darkly. Now it was Kiba's turn to raise his eyebrows.

"Are you kidding me? Sasuke's way cooler than Sai!"

"Sasuke stole my fiancee." His fists clenched. Kiba laughed, and Naruto joined him.

"Come on, Sasuke steals everyone's woman without even trying. Get over it." Naruto chuckled, and turned back to the fight. "WOO! SASUKE! BEAT HIS ARTISTIC ASS TO CLEVELAND!!!"

The fight paused.

"Where the fuck is Cleveland?" Sasuke snapped, his nose dripping blood and a bruise forming under his eye. Naruto shrugged.

"Dunno. Heard it in a movie."

"Oh."

The fight resumed and the smell of blood and sweat filled the locker room (more than usual, anyway) as the two men beat the living daylights out of each other.

"Don't" -punch- "ever," -punch- "touch my GIRLFRIEND!" Sasuke hooked Sai's nose for the seventeenth time and the other teen was sent backwards, smacking against the wall and sinking to the ground. Sai looked up, blank as ever, bruised and bloody. There was a reverent silence, with the only sound being the panting of the two fighting. He smirked.

"Can't stop her from touching me though, can you?"

A vein in Sasuke's temple throbbed as his face went beet red. He gave Sai his famous death glare, and everyone else in the room cowered. Sai didn't even flinch.

Sasuke turned and stalked back to his locker, leaving the crowd and Sai behind.

He snatched his bags up and left, walking home and sending glares at everyone he saw. Beating the crap out of Sai hadn't been satisfying, because he was right, he _couldn't_ stop Sakura if she decided to cheat on him. Sasuke felt dizzy at the thought of Sakura and Sai's lips meeting, or worse, Sakura sending him annoyingly cute text messages at random points, Sakura getting dressed up for him, Sakura sighing dreamily while talking about him to Hinata or someone. In short, the thought of Sakura with anyone else was wrong.

It took him three tries to unlock his door because his hands were shaking so much. Images of Sakura studying from a textbook, twirling her hair in her fingers distractedly and chewing on the tip of her pen floated through his head. Memories taunted him. Would they only be distant memories soon? Was Sakura going out with Sai now?

He hurled his bags at his bed as hard as he could, but that didn't help him either. He stood in his bedroom, feeling shaky and noticing the stinging pain from his bruises for the first time. Worse than anything, he felt like he had before she'd come along.

He felt alone.

* * *

Sakura threw herself on her bed, exhausted and wrought with anxiety. It was getting late, and still Sasuke hadn't called or texted her like he usually did. Every night, as soon as he'd finished work and was getting ready to settle down to do his homework, he'd either send her a text message with some bad joke that was evidence of his strange sense of humor, or call her up just to hear her talk mindlessly about her day. But tonight he hadn't.

She knew he couldn't possibly be mad about Sai; he knew that Sai was no threat at all to him. She had told him that. So why hadn't he called?

What if he were hurt? Or worse? He _did_ walk through a dangerous part of town to get from work to home, and it was dark outside. She knew he could take care of himself in a fight, but what if he'd been in the crossfire?

She turned on the television in her room to listen to the news anxiously, until she realized she was being totally ridiculous. She turned off the television and flopped back onto her bed, content for about a minute. Then her mind began racing again.

She called up Shikamaru. He was good for getting her out of these moods.

"What?" Came his sardonic voice. She smiled, already feeling better.

"Help me." She whined. Shikamaru's trademark sigh was heard. He sounded like he was smoking.

"What's going on, pink?" There was a definite smirk in his voice and she laughed, but already tears were pricking her eyes again.

"Sasuke hasn't called me yet. He calls _every_ night."

"Oh stop being such a troublesome whiny brat." He snapped. She could hear the sound of guitar playing softly in the background and from the hollow sound, she realized she was probably on speakerphone while he played guitar and consoled her.

"But what if he's hurt?" She whispered, staring out her window at the dark sky, already dotted with stars.

"I'm sure he's fine. This is Sasuke we're talking about."

"But...I'm scared." She heard him sigh again.

"Is there something else bothering you?"

She paused. "Well... I think he might be mad at me. About Sai."

"Did you do anything wrong?"

"No! But you know how he is... Oh god. What if he's ticked off and trying to pay me back by cheating on that slut Temari? Oh my god." Sakura curled up on her bed, feeling sick with nerves.

"Hey, watch it. Temari's cool. Troublesome, at times, but that's typical to all women. Don't go pinning your relationship issues on her." Shikamaru reprimanded, sounding oddly harsh. Sakura was hurt and choked on her tears, taken aback at his tone. "If you and Sasuke are having problems, why don't you just call him up and ask him yourself? You're being troublesome and ridiculous. Besides, people are only ever that paranoid when they've done something wrong."

They hung up after a strained goodbye, making Sakura feel even worse. What had she done wrong? Why wasn't Shikamaru sympathizing with her like he usually did? When she brought up Sai, his tone was extremely suspicious. Didn't he believe her? Had Sasuke mentioned something?

...Was this the beginning of the end for her and Sasuke?

A/N: Special thanks to Frumpyrox for being a ton of help with this chapter. She is SUPER patient with me and my insanity, lol. Go read her stories, they're awesome! Oh, and thank you Claire! Claire not only listened to me bitch about this chapter but then went through _each and every sentence_ and helped me make them all better. She is amazing!! worships

And of course, thank you all for the many reviews; the encouragement is wonderful and your ideas are great; I use them all in one way or another.

Coming up in Chapter Five: What's going on with this whole "Sai kissed Sakura" deal. Is it true? And if not, why would Sai lie? What's the truth, and will it be found in time to salvage Sasuke's and Sakura's relationship? Will Hinata finally gather her courage and tell Naruto? ...or at least string together a sentence in front of him? And where's Temari?

Stay tuned. PLEASE REVIEW!


	5. Bad Ideas

Chapter Five

A/N: Oh god. This chapter... well I'm pretty sure there's no way I can be happy with it. Hopefully I'm beginning to transition into the interesting/meaty part of the story, and you can expect the next chapter to be out sooner and be way more interesting. As I said before, this is mainly a transition chapter.

IN RESPONSE TO MIKANNATSUME'S REVIEW:

I feel it is important to address your review. First of all, I'm so happy that you were honest with me, because I agree—chapter four _was_ boring. I'm just having a really hard time deciding on the direction for this fic, and I guess my floundering is evident in my writing. An editor and good friend, Claire (her penname is Freckled but she hasn't posted anything yet... everyone spam her and tell her to post! Anyways...) said that it'd be nice if this fic started going in an obvious direction, and I totally agree, it's just that I really am having trouble deciding.

So, readers, PLEASE REVIEW OR EMAIL ME and let me know what your thoughts are on where this fic should be going. Should it be more dramatic, or more silly and fun? PLEASE LET ME KNOW! I have ideas for both cases but I really can't decide on which way to go. Part one was extremely silly but I also feel like, okay, it's been three years since I started that fic, and when I started it, I didn't have a computer—I went to my local library which doled out free internet time for precisely twenty minutes and I'd use that time to belt out a chapter and post it. Honestly, I don't even have half of part one on my computer. Now that I have grown up and have actually experienced romance and _have a computer_ I feel like there is no need for the same level of hysteria in each chapter, but then again... maybe that was what people liked about it? Bah. Any time I read over part one I am absolutely mortified by the writing, but that's sort of why I wanted to continue the story—it sort of exhibits how much I've changed, and I don't know, but I guess it's sort of humbling or something. That's why I don't delete anything off my account. All the old crap is embarrassing (cough-always sacrificing-cough) but it's good to learn from old mistakes to try and improve. I'm struggling with this fic but I guess it's a good thing to stick with stuff, if only just to learn from the experience in the end?

Okay, now I'm getting wayyyyyyy off track. Ignore me.

Special thanks to Mikannatsume for being so honest. Don't apologize for your honesty, it was one of the most helpful reviews ever. : )

Anyhoo, onto the fic!

:::recap:::

They hung up after a strained goodbye, making Sakura feel even worse. What had she done wrong? Why wasn't Shikamaru sympathizing with her like he usually did? When she brought up Sai, his tone was extremely suspicious. Didn't he believe her? Had Sasuke mentioned something?

...Was this the beginning of the end for her and Sasuke?

::::end of recap::::

Was it possible for time to actually move slower? It certainly felt like it at the moment. Sakura squinted at the digital clock beside her bed. It _had_ to have been more than seven minutes since she'd called Shikamaru. Any minute now, Sasuke would call.

Another four minutes ticked by and the phone still hadn't magically produced the call from Sasuke that she'd thought it would.

"Stupid worthless piece of crap." She muttered, tossing it behind her where it bounced sadly on the bed.

While she fumed, she paced back and forth so violently that there were marks where she spun on her heel to storm back the other way. She'd always hated being left in the dark about anything, and she was positive that this was the case now. A desperate ache in her chest told her to just call Sasuke herself and prove that she was just being even more paranoid and neurotic than usual, but she also knew that would just prove that something was wrong, somehow. He had to call her, like he had every other night. The man was nothing if not a creature of habit and she thankfully could rely on that to tell her when things were going awry.

But then, what was possibly the most beautiful sound Sakura had ever heard filled the room. The chirping 8-bit reproduction of a classical piece pricked Sakura's ears and she froze before diving headfirst onto the bed, snatching the cell phone.

"Hello!?" She cried, praying to whatever higher power to hear Sasuke's deep (and petulant) voice.

"S-sakura! It's me."

Sakura fell off the bed. Oh. Just Hinata. "Hey, Hina-chan." She sighed, hoping she didn't sound too glum. Of course Sasuke hadn't called. That bastard. Just when she was getting into another infuriated rant, she realized she was still lying on the floor. Embarrassed by her behavior (even though no one had seen) she struggled back up and onto the bed.

"S-something wrong?" Hinata's soft voice was barely audible but as usual she sounded (and was) totally compassionate. With a wry smile, Sakura thought of how similar Hinata and Naruto actually were. Even if they were opposite in volume, they both cared way too much about their friends. And everyone else in the world, come to think of it.

"Nah, just waiting for Sasuke to call." Sakura admitted, leaning back on her bed and crossing her legs.

"You know, N-naruto-kun told me something funny." Hinata's voice changed significantly when she mentioned the blonde and Sakura fought back the urge to giggle. They were just too cute! But Sakura knew Hinata was too shy to ask Naruto even to just hang out as a friend, and Naruto was too oblivious to realize Hinata's feelings. It was a shame, she thought sighing. At the dance, which seemed ages ago now, he'd seemed to notice Hinata, but he'd apparently forgotten his jealousy from that night. Ah, typical Naruto. At least they were spending more time with each other thanks to those tennis lessons. "He said that until you came along, Sasuke didn't even keep his phone on. It was impossible to reach him. It's sort of sweet..."

"Yeah, that is cute. I just am worried because he hasn't called yet and usually he does- oh wait, incoming call. I'm going to put you on hold, 'kay?" Before Hinata could answer, Sakura was on the other call.

"Hello?" She asked anxiously, wincing and crossing her fingers and toes. _Please let it be Sasuke-kun..._

"SAKURA-CHAN! OH MY GOD! THANK RAMEN YOU PICKED UP!!!"

"...hi Naruto." Sakura deadpanned. "Listen, can I call you back? I was in the middle of-"

"No, wait a tic okay? Now, just hear me out. I was chillin' with Kiba and some other guys today and we had basically, the BEST idea... pretty much ever. Man, I must be a genius or whatever." Sakura rolled her eyes. Naruto certainly didn't have self-esteem issues.

"Oh really?" She examined her nails, prepared to only half-listen. Naruto tended to make a big production of everything, and it was anybody's bet that this was just going to be the next stupid idea of the variety trademarked to Naruto.

"Yeah! Woo hoo! Alright, so I was thinking... howabout we have a _huge_ party? Like, with EIGHT kegs!!! Wouldn't that totally rock? I wanted to tell you the awesome idea first because you're so cool and probably know all about parties!"

Sakura held the phone a few feet away and winced. It was like he was on speakerphone or something. She checked the screen suspiciously, but no, it was indeed just his naturally obscenely loud voicebox. Naruto seemed to have two volumes: loud, and deafening.

"Naruto, do you realize how dumb those kinds of parties are? I've never been to one and have no intention of going. Besides, isn't eight kegs ridiculously excessive? I mean, do you have any idea how much alcohol there is in even _one _keg? Even if we invited the entire school we'd have a hard time getting through more than two, I think." She said thoughtfully, tapping her chin. It was true, she had no interest in drinking, at all. She'd always prided herself in not falling for those stupid high school cliches. Then it occurred to her. "Wait, have _you_ ever had a drink?"

Naruto huffed. "No, but it's always a good idea to start, right? Of course it is! And okay, so maybe we'll just have five kegs. In any case, it's going to be a totally ROCKIN-"

A beep made Sakura twitch. Another incoming call? "Hold on a sec, Naruto-kun. I have another incoming call."

She held her phone away from her ear and examined it warily, then shrugged. Her phone was getting more action than she was tonight. Ah well. When it rains, it pours, as they say. She pressed the button. "Hello?" She asked in a bored tone. She'd already given up hoping it was Sasuke.

"It's me."

She nearly dropped the phone in shock. Gathering her wits about her, Sakura took a deep breath.

"Hey..." She murmured. It had only been a few hours and already she'd begun to miss the sound of his voice. She slapped herself. She was beginning to act ridiculous. Then she realized she'd put Hinata on hold for ten minutes and Naruto had probably combusted. Never mind that, then. This had gone well beyond the point of ridicule.

"I guess you had fun with Sai today-BEEP"

Sakura blinked. _Another _incoming call? She'd just ignore it. "...What are you talking about, Sasuke-kun?" She asked slowly. Was he mad because Sai had walked her from art class to calculus? But she thought they'd resolved that...

"Look, I wanted to talk to you about this like an adult... but it looks like you're just going to lie to me even more-"

"No, Sasuke, wait!" Sakura pleaded desperately. There was a long, pained silence. The phone beeped again. "Shit, someone keeps calling me. Let me tell them to go away and we'll work whatever this is out, okay?"

"Fine."

She pressed the button. "Hello?" She tried to keep her voice level but already she was escalating to panic mode.

"Sakura-chan! Are you okay? You put me on hold for forever! Anyway, THE PAR-TAYYYY is ON! It'll be at Kiba's house because he's like, rich, and all. You better be there tomorrow, Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke sweatdropped. "Alright, Naruto-kun. I promise I will. Now I have to go, okay?"

She heard Naruto make a pouty noise. "Okay. Bye-bye, Sakura-chan."

She returned to Sasuke's call, beginning to feel her body weighted with fatigue. She wasn't sure she could handle reassuring Sasuke tonight. But it looked like she'd have to do it to save their relationship.

"Sasuke-kun?" She whispered. A grunt came from the other end. She curled up into the covers, listening to the sounds from his end. She could hear the evening news on, and pots clanging. He was probably making himself dinner and settling down to do his homework. Well, at least he was acting predictable. She smiled. She could picture him in his pajamas (exercise shorts and one of his many varsity soccer tee shirts), standing at the stove and looking over his shoulder to catch bits of the news, with one hand holding his phone and the other attempting to cook. He was terrible at anything fancy but somehow whenever she'd eaten a simple dinner of rice and vegetables made by him it tasted better than any other food in the world. "Enjoying dinner?" She asked, straining to make herself sound cheerful. Maybe then he'd realize nothing was wrong.

"No."

"...Oh. Well... what was that you wanted to talk about?"

"You kissed him."

Sakura shot up. "Kissed who!? Sasuke, what are you talking about?!" She cried, earning a warning knock at her door from Gaara. She pulled the covers over her head to muffle the sound.

"There's no point in denying. Everyone already knows now."

"Who's everyone? What do they know?"

"Naruto, Kiba, Shino, Neji... and of course because of Kiba and Naruto everyone in the school will know by tomorrow. You should just admit it now and save us both further embarrassment."

Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose, a habit she'd recently picked up from Sasuke. "_What_ do they know, Sasuke?" She snapped. This was getting old really fast. Really, she adored the Uchiha and all, but dealing with him when he was in one of his moods was similar to babysitting the sulkiest and most spoiled brat in the world sometimes. Other times it was worse.

"Ugh. You know, I thought you would at least be strong enough to admit it to me. But you can't even do that. It's pathetic." He spat, his voice dripping with disgust. Sakura felt her chest seize up. She sank back into her bed. Sasuke had never, _ever_ said anything like that to her before. Even when he had disdained her relationship with Kakashi, there had always been a protective undertone. This was pure spite. "I think it's safe to say we're over."

The phone clicked and all Sakura could do was stare into space before breaking down into choking sobs. What the hell had just happened? She hated feeling helpless, and alone, but those were the two things she felt most right now. The next strong feeling was betrayal. How could he just assume that she'd done something wrong? And who did he think she'd kissed? She was just about to hurl her phone across the room and beat her pillow to smithereens when the pink device emitted yet another noise.

"...S-sakura?"

"...Hinata? Wait, you stayed on hold that whole time?" Sakura asked incredulously, her voice still shaking with sobs.

"...Actually... you put me on conference call..."

"WHAT?!"

"I'm sorry... but... I couldn't stop listening..."

"Ah. So you know then."

"Well... yes."

Sakura slumped over. This night was just too dramatic. She hated this kind of ludicrous high-school drama that was found more commonly in Ino's crowd. Sakura had gone through most of high school uninvited to parties, ignored by boys, teased by girls, picked last, and she wasn't quite sure she was ready to move to the other end of the spectrum. But as a painful memory involving a group of especially mean girls from her old school and a flight of stairs resurfaced, her face darkened. Oh, what the hell. Why not just jump into it? She'd start by going to that party. "You know what? Screw Sasuke. He's just being a whiny brat. I say we go to that party tomorrow and party our brains out. It's about time I had a little freedom. Between Gaara and Sasuke I hardly ever get to do anything!!"

"Sakura-chan... I really don't think that's-"

"So you'll go? Great! Well, I'm going to bed now. Good night, Hinata-chan." Sakura quickly hung up and turned off her phone before Hinata could tell her that she was doing anything wrong. She couldn't take any more tonight. She curled back up into her bed for the final time that night and let the tears flow freely until sleep claimed her.

--

"What's wrong, bastard? Got your period again? Or is that stick up your ass finally getting uncomfortable?"

Sasuke shot his blonde friend (a loosely used term here) an icy glare of doom which Naruto deflected with his happy-go-lucky grin followed by a thumbs-up. He kicked the soccer ball to the handsome brat who was currently checking his phone every three seconds, most likely for his now ex-girlfriend to text him.

Despite his carefree attitude, Naruto was worried.

First of all, usually Sasuke would tackle him to the ground for insinuating that there was anything remotely womanly about him. Second of all, Hinata had worriedly approached him earlier that day to tell him about "the breakup." Her face had been flushed and she'd managed to stammer out enough for Naruto to piece it together. It was so nice knowing someone who cared as much about their friends as he did. Hinata's compassion was unusual and he couldn't help but feel a strong sense of admiration for the opal-eyed girl. Now only if she'd talk some more... people would realize how awesome she really was.

He glared at Sasuke, who was kicking the ball with such gusto that he must have been pretending it was Sai's head. How could Sasuke fall for such a stupid lie? It was so obvious that Sai had just said that to make Sasuke angry, and of course it had worked magic on the Uchiha.

"Look, if you're going to be more of a bastard than usual, I'm heading out early. I've got a party to go to tonight. I'll see Sakura-chan there!" he yelled across the field, raising his eyebrows meaningfully. They always stayed a little after practice had ended, even on Fridays, to fine-tune their skills and just have a bit of fun. It was a rare treat to see Sasuke loosen up a bit, but Sakura had somehow managed to make Sasuke ease up without soccer. Naruto scratched his head thoughtfully. Hell would freeze over before those two were permanently broken up, at least if he had anything to do with it. Sakura had done too much for Sasuke in the past few months, more than the blonde had done in years, and if nothing else, he'd at least help her to continue.

"Fine." Sasuke called, turning and slinging his bag over his muscular shoulder. Naruto sighed. Sasuke was such a... well, a brat.

"Aren't you coming to the party?"

"Why would I? I hate parties. You know that."

Naruto shook his head. "You're kinda hopeless, you know that? Whatever. The hell with you. Maybe I'll take Sakura for myself. She was too good for you, anyway." He turned and walked back to the locker room fast, his face red with anger. He pulled out his cell phone. He knew just the right person to calm him down.

"H-hello?"

"Hina-chan! You're coming tonight, right?" Naruto squealed as he pulled off his tee shirt.

"Yes." She sighed. "S-sakura-chan will need me, I think..."

"Hmm, you're probably right. I tried talking to the bastard, but no luck. It just pissed me off." Naruto scratched his head in thought, a rare sight indeed. "Say, I was going to get some ramen before the party, and I was wondering if you'd join me? My treat!"

Hinata froze, but then her face fell. She knew Sakura would need emotional support before the party too. Tonight, Sakura needed her, and Hinata knew she needed to put aside her own needs for her distressed friend.

"...I-I wish I could..." She began, her hands shaking so much she could barely hold the phone. She heard Naruto chuckle. Of course he was probably just being polite. It probably wasn't meant to be a date. Why would one of the most popular and well-known guys at Konoha High bother with someone like her? She'd never be able to keep up with the blonde.

"Sakura-chan will need you then too, right? You know Hinata, I hope you realize how kind you are. No one else is this nice. It scares me sometimes!"

Hinata chewed on her lip, her cheeks reddening even more. He was complimenting her now! She'd never had this happen to her before. Her friends had always gone on about flirting and being asked out, but it was never something she'd experienced. Even if this didn't _officially_ count, it was good enough for her.

"Th-that means a lot to me, N-naruto." She whispered.

"What? I can't hear ya-oh shit, I'm going to miss my train. I'll see you at Kiba's, 'kay? I know you'll take good care of Sakura-chan for me. See ya!"

He hung up and Hinata sighed happily. Well, that was even better than playing tennis with him, even if she didn't get to go out to dinner with him.

--

"A-are you ready, Sakura-chan?" Hinata placed a hand gently on her friend's arm. Sakura nodded, her face set into a determined expression.

"We're going to go in there, let loose and have FUN!" Sakura yelled, punching the air with her fist. Hinata sighed. It was going to be a long night.

They walked up the front steps to Kiba's gigantic house. All the houses in the neighborhood were huge, sprawling estates that actually had little to do with the term "house" which implied simply a living space. These mansions were bigger than anything Sakura had ever seen. They all came with both an indoor pool and an outdoor pool, several bedrooms, and the smallest mansion had four floors. The front lawns were all pristine and perfectly kept and each mansion had at least two sports cars. Hinata lived a few blocks away, as did Ino, and their houses were equally grand. Sakura felt embarrassed. By any normal person's standards, her own house was big—but these made her house look pitiful, like a shed or something. She noted with a pang that Sasuke's entire apartment probably was the size of a broom closet in one of these places.

The entire mansion seemed to be pulsing with the music emanating from inside. Drawing in a deep breath and steeling herself, Sakura opened the front door. She could do this. She'd handled the isolation from everyone all day. Even if she still didn't know why Sasuke had dumped her (he refused to answer any of her calls or texts and had done a superb job of ignoring her) she could always handle being gossiped about.

Inside was absolute chaos. The place was packed and luckily not many people seemed to notice or care that she'd shown up. Well, aside from Lee who was practically kissing the front step where she'd stood a moment ago, but that didn't count. Sakura accepted a beer from some guy she'd never met before, and downed it. Hinata winced. Already, Naruto's words echoed in her mind. She felt like she was letting him down now. She lifted an agitated hand to Sakura.

"G-getting drunk won't s-solve-"

And then went another beer. Hinata sighed again. "Forget it." She muttered, watching Sakura weave her way through the throng of sweating, drunken bodies. It was painfully obvious that Sakura had never been to a party or gotten drunk before.

Sakura narrowed her eyes in concentration, until she stopped, realizing she'd been looking for Sasuke. She blushed even though no one technically knew that was what she'd been doing, and instead opted to look around for a familiar face. Hinata had found a nice large urn to hide behind for the moment so Sakura felt it was alright to leave her stuttering friend.

But she froze when she caught Sai in the corner of her eye. Turning slowly, she watched him playing ping pong with Kiba, the usual blank face on. Kiba was clearly already inebriated and was flinging the paddle at the ball and missing by more than a little. How embarrassing, Sakura thought, cringing.

Sai stopped; he must have seen her, and abandoned Kiba who had begun to dance on top of the ping pong table. Her smile was pained although she tried to hide it, and Sai smiled back, although of course it didn't reach his eyes and had more of a creepy effect than a friendly one.

"I was wondering when you'd get here, Ugly."

--

Oh boy. Well, PLEASE REVIEW WITH WHAT YOU WANT! I don't care about compliments or attention, I just really want to do a good job on this fic. If you tell me this fic sucks, then tell me _why. _Honestly, I'll probably appreciate the flames more than the praise. Well, as long as there is a reason to the flame.

Cheers!


	6. Chapter 6

Just What I Needed 2

Author's note: I decided to take down the chapters that I had and rewrite this part of the story. It's completely different and also finished. I hope this is better.

Chapter Six

"So, where's Sakura?"

Hinata flinched. Hadn't she known Naruto would ask about Sakura as soon as he'd detected Hinata hiding behind an urn? For a split second, she had dared to hope that he just wanted to see her, but of course, it was all about Sakura. Quickly, Hinata popped a bubble of resentment that was forming towards the pink-haired girl. Naruto would be disappointed in her if he knew she was feeling jealous towards her good friend (who hadn't actually done anything wrong). Looking up to those pleasant sky blue eyes that always made her feel weak in the knees she pushed away any immature thoughts.

"She ignored me and went off on her own. I tried to talk to her, but she wouldn't listen. I-I'm sorry, Naruto-kun..." She whispered, anxiously tapping her forefingers together and gazing down at the ground. She was too afraid to look into his eyes anymore lest she see anger towards her in them, so she avoided it entirely. But a small voice inside her head reminded her that Naruto would never get angry with her, he was too kind.

They were so secluded that the music and noise of the party was muffled and felt far away, like the distant roar of the ocean, but that was probably just because Naruto wasn't there to liven things up. Hinata smiled in spite of herself at that, but froze when she felt Naruto's hand squeeze her shoulder gently. Slowly, she raised her eyes again, and when she did, he was smiling kindly at her, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Don't sweat it, Hina-chan! You did your best, and it's not like you can actually order Sakura-chan around, right?" He grinned from ear to ear and it soothed Hinata to see him smiling. His sunny face had always had that effect on her, even if initially he made her stomach do backflips in her anxiety. But didn't basically everyone do that to her? She was _always_ anxious. But Naruto somehow calmed her in a strange way, now that they'd been spending more and more time together and were actually _friends_. Intrinsically, she knew everything would be okay if he was around. He cared about the same things she did, which in a way, was the same as Sasuke and Sakura, and the whole reason Hinata couldn't bear to see them broken up. They were both horrible perfectionists, with a rampant bossiness, but both in the end were caring, kind people. They were just... perfect for each other. Hinata liked to think she was perfect for Naruto. And with this thought in mind, she sucked in a deep breath, steeling herself for what would probably end up being gentle rejection.

"N-n-naruto-kun..." She began, stammering even more than she had been lately. God, this was horrible. Why the heck was she putting herself through all this humiliation? But she looked at his silly grin still plastered on his face and she remembered. Oh, right. Because he was worth it. "W-w-will you..."

"Will I what, Hina-chan?"

She scrunched her eyes shut, chewing on her lip. She had to do it, she had to just _go for it_. "Dance with me?!" She squeaked, which was barely audible.

"What was that? I can't hear you, Hina-chan. We should permanently hook you up to an amplifier or something, I bet Shikamaru could rig it-"

"Yo Uzumaki! Get in here right now! We're having a manliness competition!" Kiba yelled as he stumbled into the room, effectively killing any romantic vibe, as he tended to do. His dark eyes sparkled with the alcohol pumping through his system and his cheeks were flushed as he swayed on unsteady feet, gripping a nearby chair for support. Hinata cringed as she watched Naruto draw himself up to his full height. It was impressive, but still (much to Naruto's chagrin) not enough to beat that of people like Shino and Sasuke, who towered over all and were forever hitting their heads on the tops of doorframes and unfortunately placed ceiling fans and low branches.

"You'll have to excuse me, Hinata. This is business." He said darkly, striding back into the main area of the party with Kiba bouncing along stupidly at his heels.

Hinata sighed. It looked like she'd been foiled again. Resignedly, she followed the two boisterous teens back into the hubbub.

In the living room, Naruto, Rock Lee, Kiba, and oddly enough, Neji, stood around in the center, with most of the party gathered around and observing with lukewarm amusement. Rock Lee was the most drunk out of all of them (which was saying something considering Kiba's current state) and as it were could barely stand, although he had not yet lost his self-righteousness. Kiba was quite obviously nearly passed out, and Neji remained fairly sober, although there was an unusual tinge of pink to his cheeks. Kiba was currently attempting to string a sentence together, and having a hard time about it.

"I'm so manly I get girls pregnant just by _kissing_ them!" Kiba slurred, the beer in his red plastic cup sloshing over the sides as he fruitlessly pursued an upright position. Neji snorted at him.

"Are you kidding me? You don't kiss anyone, you just slobber all over the place, just like your stupid dog." He sneered. The crowd laughed hysterically and Kiba tried to scowl but instead merely resembled someone spending a lengthy session on the toilet.

"Yeah, well, I am so manly that when I _burp_ I get chicks pregnant!" Naruto piped up. Hinata reddened and hid her face in embarrassment as the blond belched loudly and then turned to a girl who was infamously rumored to be pregnant. For a horrible moment, Hinata feared he might actually say something, but before Naruto could further tarnish his reputation, everyone in the room turned and gasped. Hinata stood on her tiptoes and spotted an unmistakable head of spiky, unruly ebony hair.

A thick blanket of silence smothered the room. Sasuke at a _party_!? Was it even possible!? The apocalypse must have occurred. As Sasuke stood in the doorway, a palpable tension formed in the room.

But of course, as usual, Naruto killed that fairly quickly. Naruto killed tension with the same ease that Kiba killed romance.

"Bastard! You look like shit! Have a beer!" He called across the room. Sasuke sent one of his more harmless glares at the blond but still, pushed his way through the crowd towards his friend. Whispers were heard everywhere but they didn't seem to affect Sasuke in the least.

"Does he realize Sai is here?"

"He's single now!!"

"Why is he all bruised? Did he and Sai get into another fight?!"

"_Damn,_ that's a tight ass..."

Sasuke ignored the whispering. Impatiently he turned to Naruto and opened his mouth to speak but he was cut off instantly.

"We're having a manliness contest, bastard!" He yelled, punching the air. "And while I'm pretty sure I just won, you still should join us!"

Rock Lee pushed closer to them. "I believe it is my turn. I am _so_ insurmountably manly that I wear womens' deodorant."

The whispers halted as everyone stared at Lee. Sasuke looked down his nose witheringly at the bowl-cut wearing teen and irritatedly, turned back to Naruto.

"Look, I _really_ need to talk to you-"

"Yeah, well I'm so manly that I eat nails for breakfast, you pussies!" Naruto retorted, ignoring Sasuke completely. Sasuke sweatdropped, acting exasperated. He petulantly crossed his arms and frowned, but as the competition wore on, there was a new gleam in his eyes. He was much too competitive to resist this. Especially when it involved Naruto, Sasuke was obscenely competitive. Forgetting his reason for being at the party at all, he joined in.

"I'm so manly I drink napalm for breakfast." He said, his mouth twisting into a smirk. Naruto, Kiba, and Rock Lee stared stupidly at the Uchiha. This night really was getting weird. Next thing they knew, Neji would turn into a total hopeless romantic and propose to some random girl that was new to the school—oh, right. That _already happened_.

"Yeah well I'm so manly that when I go swimming, other countries are in danger of Tsunamis!"

"I'm so manly that when I flex there are nuclear explosions!"

"I'm so manly that all I have to do is look at people and they die!"

"I'm so manly I've nearly been shot by hunters several times because of all my body hair!"

Outside, on the veranda facing the enormous pool, Sakura stared off into the night, the cool air sending shivers up her spine. Or maybe that was just the fact that Sai was standing directly behind her. Either one, really.

Sai bit his lip, staring at her tensed back. What was she thinking? Did she feel anything for him, at all? Well, only one way to find out. This was his chance. She'd make him happy just as she had made Sasuke happy.

With slow trembling fingers, he touched her shoulder gently, guiding her around to face him again. She looked up at him, her eyes narrowing as she attempted to focus.

She was drunk. Really drunk.

"That _asshole..._" She slurred, swaying on her feet. Tears formed in her eyes and dribbled down her cheeks mercilessly, and she clutched the fabric of Sai's shirt. Sai stared down at her. What the hell was he supposed to do _now_?

"Ugly, I don't care about your ex boyfriend." Sai said impatiently, patting her on the back shortly. He wanted to make her forget about Sasuke, and think only about him. "You should stop thinking about him."

Sakura looked up at Sai. "I wish I could!" She moaned. "But everything makesm e think of him. And everyone's always _looking_ at me because they know we're fighting, and I just... I wish I could just GET AWAY from these idiots, just for long enough to...to..." She paused as more tears leaked out of her eyes. "...to fall out of love!" She finished melodramatically, clutching her hands to her face to hide herself. She attempted to sit down on a nearby chaise lounge, but missed grandly, and fell in a large potted plant. "Nobody saw that!" She called loudly. Sai walked over and grunted as he attempted to lift her out of the pot and onto the chair. He slipped, Sakura grabbed him, and suddenly they were lying in a tangle of arms and legs on the chaise lounge.

Now was his chance. Sai shifted over into a more comfortable position, and looked down at Sakura, who he had effectively pinned down underneath him. She looked so vulnerable...so sad...

...so drunk...

"Let's spend the weekend at my beach house." He blurted, although it really couldn't hurt to try. With any luck, she'd say yes, and if she didn't...well, she was so far gone that she was probably never going to remember this conversation anyway.

Sakura gazed up at the double vision of Sai above her. Beach house? She liked the beach...wait...didn't this sound like a bad idea? Sasuke would tell her that she was acting like a moron--

Screw Sasuke! She was FREE now, dammit! She was going to do what she wanted, and neither he, nor Gaara, could tell her otherwise.

"Yes! I'll go!" She slurred, nodding her head enthusiastically and causing the world to sway and spin like a merry go round. "Ungh...stop the ground...I wanna get off..."

Sai pushed himself off of her and helped her up. She caught some semblance of balance as one arm clutched Sai's arm and the other clutched her head. "Let's just go now. I don't need to stop at my house or anything." She latched onto Sai's other arm for support, and he led her back through the patio door.

"We'll leave immediately." He replied, beaming at the way she clung to him. He scanned the crowd for Sasuke, and spotted the familiar head of wild hair across the room. He smirked. Now was his chance. Sasuke had to see that it was over for him and Sakura, and the pink-haired girl was _his_ now.

"Naruto, Kiba, we're leaving now. Good party." Sai called from the doorway. The group of guys standing around looked back. Kiba and Lee waved with only the cheer that someone with such a high blood alcohol content could muster, Neji wrinkled his nose, and Naruto frowned. Sasuke stared, apparently emotionless, at Sai. Sai waved pleasantly, and then bolted out the door.

Naruto turned to his best friend, whose dark eyes were trained on the door where the couple had once been.

"Please don't tell me you're okay with that. Please." Naruto pleaded, gazing at Sasuke with his most ardent puppy-dog eyes.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Sasuke asked genuinely, taking Naruto aback. "We're not going out anymore." He added, shrugging indifferently. Naruto gazed, wide-eyed, at his friend. Then he glared.

"Why are you such a bastard? A really stupid one. How does that work? I mean, it's fascinating." Naruto said angrily, clenching his fists. Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm going home. This party sucks."

Sasuke left the ritzy house and strolled into the chilly night air, feeling an odd combination of exhaustion, queasiness, irritation, fury, and utter despair. He didn't care, he told himself sharply. He didn't care...he did NOT care...absolutely DIDN'T CARE...

He reached his flat and stopped outside the door, sighing as he heard the television on in Kakashi's flat. He stood, listening to the sound of a soap opera. Kakashi must have recorded it.

"But how can you just let her go? You _love_ her, Takeru!" A man's over-acting voice cried. Sasuke twitched.

"I don't love her anymore, and I never did." Another man's voice said flatly, the owner clearly lacking any acting abilities. What scared Sasuke more was how much it resembled his own inner turmoil. He looked back at Kakashi's door, ready to storm in and watch to see what would happen. Perhaps it would give him some insight...

"But she's having quintuplets! _Your_ quintuplets! And now, you're just going to go join the circus, ignoring your own future children--"

Sasuke slammed his own door. Never mind.

It was cold in his flat and he had no food in his refrigerator. He stared dejectedly into his cabinet, but no food was to be had.

He went to his couch and flopped down on it, the sounds of Kakashi's soap opera floating through his door and into his living room. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Goddammit, if Kakashi didn't turn that damn thing down, he was going to go in there and put his foot through the screen--

"I'm going to fight for the one I love. I love her so much. It is like emotion washes over me in waves of passion whenever I think of her. I want her. I am going to get her back." The actor deadpanned, obviously missing the emotion of the lines completely and saying the lines with less interest than if he were reading the weather.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. How could Kakashi possibly watch this crap? The situations had nothing to do with real life. It was like one of those ridiculous fanfictions or something. Sasuke shifted, placing his hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling. He could feel the weight of his cell phone in his pocket, and he slipped it out and flipped it open.

He cursed. There was a picture of Sakura as the wallpaper. She was looking very angry at something to her left (probably Naruto) and opening her mouth to yell at whatever was annoying her. She had her finger raised, as if to scold, and her cheeks were red.

He'd have to erase that...at some point. Yes, he'd certainly do it. Just...not right now. He didn't feel like it. That was all.

Dammit, why was she so damn cute?

He snapped his phone shut and tossed it onto the old coffee table, and tried to go back to staring at the ceiling. But he kept thinking about Sakura. She had looked really drunk when she'd left with Sai. In fact...she didn't even seem to be mentally there. About to pass out, in other words.

And she wasn't the lying type, which made him feel odd about accusing her of kissing Sai. Sai definitely was the lying type...in fact Sasuke wouldn't trust him further than he could throw him. So why had he just immediately assumed Sakura was lying?

Even now, the horrible jealousy twisted in his stomach, as well as the embarrassment. He had been _scared._ He'd been scared that he'd have another person taken away from him. In the safety of his own mind, he could admit that much to himself.

What the hell was he doing? All of this was Sai's fault. After all he and Sakura had braved, he was throwing it all away for some moron who Sakura didn't even like. He was _letting_ Sai win, when Sakura was more than worth fighting for.

"Yes, that's right, Takeru! Go! Win her back! I know you can do it!!" Shrieked the overly enthusiastic actor. Sasuke let out a grin as the other actor, the one who could act about as much as a pile of bricks, replied dully with some sappy resolution clearly meant to be belted out.

Sasuke sat up, glowering into space. Yes, he'd go and get Sakura back tonight. All he had to do was find her.

His phone vibrated. He snatched it up, and flipped it open, feeling irritated at whoever was daring to bother him. He had a _mission_ to go on! He frowned, seeing it was from Naruto.

_Saku chan is missing. Isnt answrng her phone. help!_

--


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Sai glanced over at his companion, who was giggling and muttering something incoherently to herself. Well, being drunk, she was more likely to blurt out the truth. It was better to ask now than to wait tomorrow, when she would be hung over and angry.

"Ugly...do you like me?" He ventured. Sakura's head lolled over so that she was looking up at him.

"I love you, Sasuke!" She slurred, smiling stupidly and fluttering her eyelashes at him. Sai bristled.

"I'm _not_ Sasuke. Sasuke _isn't_ here right now." He said in a slow, patronizing voice. He gripped the wheel in anxiety. "I'm _Sai._ Do you like _Sai?_"

"Haaaa. Sasuke. You're funnyyyy!" She squealed.

"Goddammit, you hag!" He grumbled. It had been a three hour drive in the car, and they still had an hour to go. He'd get it out of her within that time—he'd do it for sure. Then, when they got to his house...more importantly, his _bedroom_...oh yes, she'd cease her stupid declarations of love for that asshole, and then...

He just barely stopped himself from cackling evilly, and glanced over at Sakura again. She had removed her shoes and was slumped down in her seat, her feet raised in the air as she wiggled her toes and giggled randomly.

In the hour that passed, he managed to get out of her that she thought Neji had a cute butt and that she enjoyed red bean cake. This annoyed him on two counts: one, he hadn't asked about either of these two subjects, which meant she was just rambling with no awareness of him, and two, he still didn't know whether she liked him or not.

"We're here. Although, what's the point of telling you? You wouldn't notice if I pelted you with rocks, Ugly." Sai said bitterly, helping her out of the passenger seat. She stumbled and he had to carry her up the walk. He hadn't been at the house in a couple of months, and therefore it had been locked up for quite a while, but when he got there he felt a certain sense of peace. Nearby the ocean roared and the air smelled salty. He stood on the porch for a minute, enjoying the breeze and the calamity that was only brought by witnessing four am on a saturday morning by the beach...in the middle of winter.

"It's _cold._" Sakura whined, clutching closer to him and causing his heart to flutter. He furrowed his brow, even more determined now to get her to like him.

He hauled Sakura over his shoulder and used his free hand to unlock the door. Once inside, he let her down on the couch and closed the door, flicking on the lights and checking around the house. It smelled dusty but was clean enough. Besides, she wouldn't really have noticed either way.

He sat down on the couch with her, and sat her up so that she was leaning against the arm of the couch and looking at him dazedly. He gripped her shoulders, and she smiled at him, her eyes half-lidded. She leaned in, closing her eyes, and Sai's heart pounded in his chest wildly.

"Sasuke..." She murmured, missing his face by a long shot and falling off the couch. She landed with a painful thud on the hardwood floor, and didn't get up. She had officially passed out.

Sai cursed. So close...he had been _so close..._ He sighed in resignation and lifted her up again, and dropped her unceremoniously onto the couch. He pulled the throw blanket from the back of the couch and haphazardly threw it on her before leaving and going to sleep in his own bed, grumbling and kicking things in frustration on his way.

--

"Naruto, if you deface those pictures any more, no one's going to be able to figure out who we're looking for." Neji said witheringly, gazing at the copy of Sai and Sakura's school photos that he was taping to a telephone pole.

"Where are we? I don't even recognize this area. Come on, Sai totally wouldn't take her this far." Kiba whined. Naruto added a moustache to Sai's face. So far, a giant heart was drawn around Sakura's face, and Sai had been given devil horns, glasses, a moustache, heavy eyebrows (much to Lee's chagrin), breasts, huge lips, buck teeth, and elf ears.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was standing at the gas station counter, demanding from the man there if he'd seen either Sai or Sakura. His attitude towards every person they stopped to ask was bordering on uncontrollably violent and was one fist away from winning them jail time. A heavy weight sat in his stomach, but he was determined to not sit and whine. He was going to _find_ Sakura, steal her from Sai, beat the shit out of Sai, and claim Sakura as his woman.

The idea had a pleasant ring to it, and it calmed Sasuke down a bit. He left the gas station after the man shook his head, shaking and muttering something about how he had children and a wife at home, and joined the rest of his companions.

"Seriously, I'm sure she's fine!" Kiba added loudly. Akamaru barked. Naruto whirled on Kiba.

"Don't you _understand?!_ Sai might be _ravishing_ Sakura, at this VERY minute!" He cried, shaking Kiba's shoulders. Sasuke whacked Naruto upside the head.

"You guys are morons. Let's just go." He said sullenly, heading back to the car. He got in the driver's seat, and everyone piled into the car. Naruto sat in the front passenger, with Hinata on his lap (she wasn't sure whether to be ecstatic or horrified at the arrangement), and Shikamaru squeezed in between them, sitting on top of the spot _technically_ designated for the cup holders. In the back sat Shino, Neji, and Chouji, and Lee and Kiba and Akamaru had been forced to sit in the very back. Thank god Kiba was rich and his parents had bought him a giant SUV; it came in handy for carting around several teenage boys.

"Sasuke...do you _have_ to double the speed limit?" Hinata asked in an especially scared and tiny voice as they flew over a speed bump at seventy five miles per hour. Naruto clutched Hinata tightly, making her nearly pass out with happiness.

"Do _you_ want to drive, Hinata?" He hissed, speeding up even more. Hinata shook her head, and he smiled a catlike smile before glowering again. "Then SHUT. UP."

"THAT WAS A STOP SIGN!" Chouji screeched in terror as they made a right turn, hitting something and knocking it away as they went.

"Not anymore." Sasuke said darkly. He was going to find Sakura, dammit!

--

"Ungh...my head..." Sakura sat up slowly, the blanket falling off of her as she clutched her aching head. Even that slight movement made the queasiness build up in her stomach, and she stayed as still as possible to make the room stop spinning.

Wait a second. Where the hell was she?!

She took in her surroundings, which mainly comprised an old television set, a coffee table, a plain rug, and the couch she was sitting on. How had she gotten here?

She strained her memory, trying to piece together the little fragments. She remembered a ping pong table...something about a plant...someone calling her ugly...a car ride...

What did it all _mean?_ Had some of it been a dream? Where was she, and why did she feel like such crap?

Oh god. Had someone drugged her? Had she been kidnapped, doomed to forever remain here in the rather poorly decorated clutches of some insane person? No! It couldn't end like this! She wanted to _at least_ finish high school before she died, dammit!

She sprung up, ignoring the dizziness and pounding in her head, and hurled herself at the door, expecting it to be locked.

When she flew out headfirst onto the porch, she realized it wasn't. Ouch.

She stood up, looking around. It smelled like the beach. But the beach was nearly four hours away...well, she wouldn't put it past a kidnapper to drive that far. She brushed herself off, squinting in the sunlight that hurt her eyes. Checking her watch, she saw that it was about ten am. Well, she'd just... walk away, then. She didn't have her cell phone so she'd have to find a restaurant or gas station and make a phone call there. This was all very strange, but she didn't want to wait and see who had kidnapped her. She took a step off of the porch.

"Where exactly are you going, Ugly?"

Sakura froze. Turning around slowly, she came face to face with her kidnapper. She twitched.

"Sai! Where the _hell_ are we!?" She hissed. Sai held up his hands.

"Calm down, Ugly. You're very hungover and you need to at least drink some water--"

"HUNGOVER?! What happened?!" She shrieked. Sai smiled pleasantly.

"Well, you agreed to go to my beach house with me. You said you wanted to get away from Sasuke...ring any bells yet?" He sounded highly amused. Sakura froze.

Oh god. The party. She had been at Kiba's party and gotten drunk. Shit!

She bit her lip. "Approximately...how drunk...would you say I got?" She asked slowly, wincing at the word "drunk." Sai smirked.

"I would say...approximately...plastered."

Sakura winced again. She glanced at Sai.

"And did we...?"

"No." Sai looked decidedly irritated at this. Sakura let out a sigh of relief. Well, that was _one_ thing off the list of possible embarrassing things she could have done.

Sai shifted and stared at Sakura heavily. "Just...come inside, and have some food." He said wearily, gesturing towards the door. Sakura nodded and walked back up the front steps. It was cold outside, anyway.

She sat down in the kitchen while Sai rummaged through the cabinets and refrigerator for something to eat. Finally, he produced some dry cereal, and they ate it without milk, crunching on it in awkward silence.

Sakura glanced at Sai across the table. He was wearing wrinkled clothes and looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep. He had taken her here for a reason, obviously, and it occurred to her that considering they hadn't done anything...perhaps he really did have a valid crush on her, and wasn't just being creepy. It was sweet...well, sort of. And at any rate, things with Sasuke were over. And she was going to get in _huge_ trouble with Gaara when she got home. She winced when she realized she'd left Hinata at the party alone, too. On top of all of this, everyone had probably seen her drunk and leaving with Sai.

Right. _This_ was why she didn't go to parties. In conclusion...she might as well enjoy herself now. She turned to Sai.

"So...do you...like me, or something?" She asked awkwardly, moving the cereal around in the bowl. Sai looked up from eating.

"I don't need the easy letdown, Hag." He said coolly, not meeting her eyes. Sakura sighed.

"Look...maybe we can work something out..." She said slowly, glancing back and forth between him and the floor. He stopped eating and pushed his bowl away.

"You like me?" He asked plainly. Sakura bit her lip.

"I..."

Suddenly, the kitchen was filled with a chirping noise. Both Sai and Sakura jumped at the sound, and Sai exhaled as he dug his phone out of his pocket.

"Hi Mom." He said flatly, pushing his hair back from his eyes. Sakura closed her eyes and tried to relax her muscles, but she couldn't. Did she like him? Maybe. Not as much as she liked Sasuke...but they were over. Maybe she should just move on...? "Yes mom. No. I'm at the beach house. No, I'm with a friend. No, a girl. I don't know. I'll call you—no, mom, I'm in the middle of something..."

Sakura felt increasingly awkward. A knot formed in her stomach that she knew wasn't a side effect of being hungover. She quite suddenly just wanted Sasuke to be there. She needed some sort of comfort...but _no,_ she reminded herself, they were over. There would be no comfort from him.

Sai hung up the phone and snapped it shut.

"People are looking for you. Since you were last seen with me, some guys apparently came by my house at five am to bother my mother. She's pretty angry." He said this as though it were no big deal, and Sakura sank in her seat. Was one of them-- "one of them was Sasuke, apparently. My mom said some guy with really bad hair wanted to beat me up but I wasn't there, obviously."

Sakura's breath caught in her throat. Sasuke had been looking for her. He had been _looking_ for her. He had been worried. When she looked at Sai again, he was staring at her.

"Don't bother lying to me, Ugly. Let's just go back to Konoha." He stood and grabbed both bowls, leaving them in the sink. Sakura couldn't help but smile. When they were leaving the kitchen, she grabbed Sai, and hugged him.

"Thanks." She whispered. Sai pulled away, smiling a little bit.

"I like you much better when you're sober, I think." He said, smirking, as they exited the house. He locked the door behind him.


	8. Chapter 8

Just What I Needed 2

Author's Note: THIS IS THE END! GAH! So weird. Thanks to...well, EVERYONE, of course, including Dana, Claire, Frumpy, and the reviewers who were so sweet and helpful. This story took OVER FOUR YEARS to finish. I'm glad I went in this direction instead of pursuing the whole dark Itachi deal. There are a lot of things I regret about this story, but I'm glad I wrote it. Once again, thank you to everyone!

Chapter Eight

"Hey, wait a second, guys. Sai's mom is calling me!" Naruto called as they flew through a red light. Jeers and various "your mom" jokes were passed as Naruto attempted to block them out.

"Hello, this is Uzumaki!" He yelled above the din that everyone else was making. "What? Beach house? Wh-where?!" Naruto cried frantically. He set the phone down for a second. "Guys, she said he finally picked up his phone!" He rejoiced, and brought the phone back to his ear. "Alrighty, so...okay...left onto the interstate...okay..." Naruto repeated the directions out loud so everyone else could hear them. When he hung up, Kiba grumbled in irritation.

"That's in the opposite direction! Damn, that's gotta be at least a four hour drive!" He groaned. Shikamaru sighed loudly.

"Troublesome..." He muttered.

Sasuke said nothing; he was too busy making a u turn in the middle of the road, causing at least three accidents as he went. Shino, Chouji, Neji, Hinata, Naruto, and Shikamaru winced, clutching whatever and whoever they could. Meanwhile, Lee, Kiba, and Akamaru were thrown across the back, screaming as they went.

"It was a good choice, putting them in the back. I don't think I could handle the noise otherwise." Neji commented. Seeing as he was squished in between the door and Chouji's formidable girth, he was quite safe and barely had to hold on.

"Why don't we just meet Sai and Sakura halfway, and take Sakura home from there?" Shino's muffled voice came. Naruto nodded enthusiastically.

"Good idea, Bugs!" He called. Shino's knuckles bleached.

"I told you not to call me that..." He warned darkly. Naruto grinned stupidly, and Hinata sighed.

"Call you what? Bugs?" He asked in total oblivion. Shino smacked his forehead, but abandoned pursuing a better nickname.

They got ahold of Sai's cell phone number and arranged to meet halfway at a small cafe. Everyone cheered, mainly because that meant less driving. Meanwhile, Sasuke's stomach was in knots.

What he _wanted_ to do was kill Sai and take Sakura and kiss her, but...he couldn't just go and do that, for obvious reasons. She was probably furious with him and didn't want him anywhere near her. Maybe she had even given in to Sai and was dating him now...although that thought alone made Sasuke see red in his fury.

"Don't worry, Bastard." Naruto said, apparently sensing Sasuke's distress. Sasuke shot Naruto a glare, but then, Neji spoke up.

"Yes. Despite your obscene lack of skill and finesse in driving, you are certainly more suitable a boyfriend than Sai. I'm sure everything will fall into place. It is destiny, after all." He said stiffly. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"You know, despite your obscene gayness, you are certainly not a terrible guy." He retorted scathingly. Neji bristled and moved to hit Sasuke, but couldn't move because Chouji's fat was in the way.

The rest of the ride was loud and filled with dirty jokes and teasing towards Sasuke, who bore it all with a glower as he drove wildly. Now that they knew where Sakura _was_ and knew she was safe, he didn't have to drive quite as dangerously, which was a nice change for his passengers. Everyone relaxed more and more, as Sasuke's anxiety increased. He ran through all possible scenarios in his head, trying to come up with an appropriate reaction to every possible outcome. Unfortunately, any possible outcome that he came up with that involved him _not_ winning over Sakura made him furious and incapable of coherent, civilized speech. He'd have to work on that one.

--

Sakura's stomach bubbled with nervousness as she watched the scenery fly by. Sai's driving was careful and law-abiding, so she felt safe enough to stare out the window and lose herself to her thoughts. After eating, her hangover was a little bit better. She had tried to neaten herself up in the mirror, but Sai had _so sweetly_ told her that no amount of primping could save her now; she was just too ugly.

And then, quite suddenly, Sai spoke up.

"I want to be friends with you, Sakura." The use of her name and not some 'affectionate' nickname startled her. She glanced at him. He continued. "For a couple of years now I've been on lots of medications...I was in an accident. They make me flat and I almost never feel any emotion anymore. I hate it. But something about you..." As they stopped at a red light, he looked at her carefully. "...Perhaps it's your ugliness. It spikes my blood pressure in fear." He joked, and Sakura fake-glowered, punching him in the arm.

Well, _that_ explained a lot. She grinned at him.

"I want to be _best_ friends with you—howabout _that_?" She said, smiling happily. Sai's mouth quirked into a smile.

She felt a little bit better now, but it didn't solve her problems with Sasuke. As if Sai had read her mind (and she was beginning to think he really could), he spoke again.

"Don't worry about Uchiha. Really." He said. Sakura sighed.

"I don't even know what I'm going to _say._ I don't know if he still hates me or not. I don't know if...agh." She groaned. "Nothing has ever been easy with him."

"It probably never will be!" Sai said brightly. "You'd better get yourself together soon though. We're about to meet up with them."

Sakura gasped, clutching the door. Had two hours gone by already? She had been getting pretty comfortable around Sai...could she stand two whole hours stuck in a car with Sasuke?

They pulled into a parking lot for a strip mall that had a movie theater, supermarket, and a cafe. Very few cars were in the lot except for a large SUV that had many bumper stickers concerning dogs. 'My dog is smarter than your honor student,' and 'my dog can beat up your dog' were just a few examples. Sakura rolled her eyes. That was definitely Kiba's car. Definitely.

"Let's go in before you make any children cry, hag." Sai teased, pulling Sakura into the cafe by the hand. She gulped nervously, running her free hand through her hair and straightening her shirt. She could do this. She _could do this._

Inside, Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru, Lee, Neji, Chouji, and Shino were all crowded around two tables, scarfing down food wildly. When the bell rang signaling their entrance, everyone looked up. Sakura was standing next to Sai shyly, looking down and twirling a short piece of hair around her finger.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto screamed deafeningly, jumping up and nearly throttling Sakura in a hug. Hinata said in an oddly loud voice the same thing, and the other guys greeted her and Sai in varying levels of enthusiasm.

Except for Sasuke. He remained in his seat, clutching the paper coffee cup in total and utter shock.

She had been holding hands with Sai.

He watched Sakura hug everyone and apologize for making them worry. Naruto told her about how worried Gaara was until they'd lied and told him that she was merely staying at Hinata's house. Akamaru barked and licked Sakura's face, causing her to laugh loudly. It was all a merry scene, and it occurred to Sasuke that it was better to act like a normal adult and behave maturely...

But he really didn't care.

He stood up and stalked over to Sai, who was smiling and staring at Sakura. He grabbed him roughly by the shoulder.

"Well?!" He demanded. Everyone fell silent. Sai looked at Sasuke and waved him away.

"Stop acting like a moron and go hug your ugly girlfriend. I'd also recommend apologizing." He said loftily, and then returned to patting Akamaru and asking Chouji about who had won the manliness contest the previous evening. Sasuke stared in shock at his lookalike. Everyone returned to chatting and asking Sakura about her night, as Sasuke lifted his gaze to Sakura. Their eyes met and their gazes locked, making Sakura redden.

"Hey...Howabout we all go back with Sai, and The Bastard drives Sakura-chan home?" Naruto suggested, and everyone agreed eagerly, namely because they had aged at least ten years thanks to the paralyzing fear of being in a car with Sasuke. Sasuke and Sakura sputtered disagreements, but everyone waved them away.

They all exited the cafe and Sasuke and Sakura were ushered to Kiba's car. They said their goodbyes, and ran off to Sai's car, leaving Sakura and Sasuke to stand alone, in complete silence, in the parking lot next to the car.

It was cold and the wind was blowing. Sakura rubbed her hands up and down her arms, and looked everywhere but at Sasuke. Sasuke fidgeted with the car keys, seemingly enthralled by the activity.

"So...um..." Sakura began. Sasuke looked up at her cautiously, and the jingling stopped as he held the keys still in his fist. She let out a shaky breath. Sasuke glared at her.

"Do you have any idea how idiotic you've acted?" He demanded harshly. Sakura winced, nodding.

"It was stupid. I know." She conceded. Sasuke clenched his fists.

"It wasn't just stupid. It was the dumbest thing you've ever done!" He raised his voice. Sakura glared.

"Well you've been acting really stupid too lately!" She yelled back. "You haven't been listening to me at all and have been just assuming stuff!"

"I can't help it!" He yelled, throwing up his hands in the air. "I felt humiliated; like everyone knew about you and Sai except for me, like I was the only one in the dark about it!"

Sakura stared at him heavily. "Do you _really_ think I have so little pride that I'd just go and cheat on you?" She asked quietly. Sasuke looked down, humbled again.

"No." He said quietly. Sakura sighed in exhaustion.

"I have a huge headache, I've been wearing this outfit for over twenty four hours, and I haven't had anything decent to eat in about that. Can we just...put this crap behind us?"

Sasuke nodded, and just as she was about to speak, he reached out, and enveloped her in a warm, tight hug. Sakura flinched at first, but then wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Don't worry, Sai and I are just friends. He didn't try anything, and nothing bad happened." She said softly. Sasuke exhaled.

"Good. I was going to kill him if he did try anything." He said, smirking, as they pulled away. Sakura laughed.

"I know."

She snatched his hand up and they walked back into the cafe, smiling. They were back together again. Everything was right with the world again.

--Six Months Later--

"Thank GOD that's over!" Neji said loudly, massaging his forehead. Everyone else voiced their agreement as Naruto fiddled with the radio. The graduation ceremony had finally ended, with a few hitches, of course. Naruto had decided to go commando under his graduation robes, which had been revealed during a burst of wind as he'd accepted his diploma. Akamaru had run up on stage and attacked Tsunade when she'd given Kiba his diploma, and Sakura's fanboys had nearly crushed her on her way to the podium, much to Sasuke's displeasure (read: raging, epic fury).

But it was over now, and now the gang was on the way to Sai's beach house to stay for the weekend. Once again, Kiba's car had come in handy, and despite the girls having to sit on their respective boyfriend's laps, they had made it work.

"Shikamaru, you look a little melancholy. What's wrong?" Tenten asked from her spot on Neji's lap. Shikamaru glanced up from looking out the window.

"Eh, nothing." He waved flippantly. Chouji snorted.

"Stop lying. Guys, he finally told Ino he liked her!"

The car fell silent.

"You _like_ that slut?" Kiba asked in disbelief. Everyone murmured similar sentiments. Shikamaru bristled, until Sakura shouted at everyone to be quiet.

"What'd she say, Shikamaru-kun?"

"She said I was an idiot." He grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "But she likes idiots, as she pointed out."

No one knew what to say.

"So...what does that mean for you? I'm lost here." Naruto said, scratching his head. Shikamaru glared.

"Don't look at me! I don't know either! She said that, and then she kissed me, then she hit me, then mentioned something about me already having a girlfriend, and then she ran away. Troublesome woman..." He shook his head, but there was an unmistakable smile playing on his lips as he resumed staring out the window.

"WELL. That's not...odd, or anything." Sasuke sneered. "She must have been talking about Temari."

Everyone laughed, and chatter resumed. Sakura smiled contentedly, resting back against Sasuke's chest. Sasuke was gripping her possessively as he argued with Naruto about what station to leave the radio on at. As per usual with their crowd, it was hectic, chaotic, very, very loud, and of course, happy. Everyone was laughing or smiling or talking animatedly, even Hinata. It made Sakura beam with happiness.

After the catastrophe that winter, she and Sasuke had grown even closer. They'd been accepted at the same university, and planned to room together. Tenten had managed to catch Neji's eye (it had taken a lot of threatening, love potions, and many, many knives), and Temari and Shikamaru had dated briefly. Hinata had finally worked up the courage to ask Naruto out, and he'd said yes, admitting to adoring her. This made Shino and Kiba sad, because they had always really liked Hinata, but they found girlfriends for themselves eventually. Sai still obviously had feelings for Sakura, but he'd dated other girls in the meantime, and was planning on going off the medications soon. Lee still hit on Sakura shamelessly, and hadn't found another girl he liked quite as much, but he seemed fine. Chouji had admitted to liking Temari, and Temari had dumped Shikamaru for Chouji.

And of course, there was Kakashi.

Sakura blushed when she remembered earlier that morning. Right before the ceremony, Kakashi had caught her alone, and had given her a warm hug. They'd laughed about how funny the year had been. He'd congratulated her, and told her that he couldn't have been more proud of her. She'd called him a pervert, and that had been that. Sakura couldn't have asked for a more perfect goodbye.

And now they were on their way to the beach, to enjoy a weekend of relaxation, before they all went their separate ways. Luckily, both Sakura and Sasuke were staying in Konoha for the summer. Somehow, Sakura knew the summer was bound to bring plenty of surprises for them.

"Sakura. You're grinning to yourself." Sasuke flicked her nose, bringing her back to the present. She laughed, flicking him back.

"I'm just happy, that's all." She sighed. Sasuke rolled his eyes, and returned to yelling at Naruto for some reason or another.

She felt like she had changed so much in the past year. She had gone from being a shy, dorky, lonely girl to someone who was happy and confident. And really, it had all started with Sasuke, she now realized. He had been her first real friend at her new school...and ever, really. He had helped her when she'd needed it, and had listened to her when she'd needed to vent. He had kept her company, and made fun of her when she'd needed a dose of reality. Really, he had been the perfect fit in her new life here in Konoha. He had been...just what she'd needed.


End file.
